🎯 Learning Objectives
By the end of this lesson, you will:
- Audit UI copy for the three most common text problems
- Distinguish between a typo bug and a UX writing issue
- Apply the "Mom Test" to evaluate error message quality
- Know the difference between "Error 404" and good error copy
📝 Words Are Part of the Product
Here's something most QAs overlook: the text in the UI is as much a product artifact as the code.
And it has bugs too:
- Inconsistent terminology (the same concept has three different names)
- Unhelpful error messages ("Something went wrong")
- Placeholder text that was never replaced ("Lorem ipsum" in the help tooltip)
- Typos in critical screens
When was the last time you saw a "Lorem ipsum" in a production app? We all have. That's a text bug. You can find it in static testing — before it ships.
🔍 Area 1: Terminology Consistency
The problem: The same concept is called different things in different parts of the interface.
Classic examples:
- "Sign In" on the home page, "Login" on the button, "Log In" in the header
- "Order" in the dashboard, "Purchase" in the email, "Transaction" in the receipt
- "Account" in the settings, "Profile" in the nav, "User" in the error messages
Why it matters: Users get confused. They start wondering: "Is 'Order' and 'Transaction' the same thing? Did something go wrong?"
How to check:
- List all key concepts in the product (authentication, order, account, etc.)
- Search the Figma file and spec for every variation of each term
- Pick the official term. Flag all deviations.
🔍 Area 2: Error Message Quality
The problem: Error messages that tell users something went wrong but not what or how to fix it.
The Error Message Quality Scale:
| Level | Example | User's reaction |
|---|---|---|
| 1 (worst) | "Error." | 😤 "What error?!" |
| 2 | "Something went wrong." | 😤 "...thanks?" |
| 3 | "Error 500." | 😕 "Is that bad?" |
| 4 | "Failed to save your changes." | 😐 "Okay, but why?" |
| 5 (good) | "Failed to save. Check your internet connection and try again." | 🙂 "Got it." |
| 6 (great) | "Failed to save. Your internet connection seems offline. [Retry] [Save draft]" | 😊 "I know exactly what to do!" |
The goal is Level 5 or 6.
The Mom Test 👩
Read the error message out loud. Imagine your non-technical mom reading it. Ask: Would she know what happened and what to do next?
If the answer is no — the error message needs work.
🔍 Area 3: Completeness and Placeholder Check
Specs and designs often use placeholder content that gets missed in the final product:
Things to check:
- Any "Lorem ipsum" or "Placeholder text" visible to users?
- Any "[Product Name]" that wasn't replaced with the real brand?
- Any "TODO" or "TBD" in UI text?
- Any truncated labels: "Save chan..." instead of "Save changes"?
- Any ALL CAPS that should be sentence case? (Or vice versa?)
🌍 The Naming Consistency Audit
Here's a practical exercise:
- Open the Figma file
- Write down every word used for these concepts:
- Authentication action (Sign In? Log In? Login?)
- User's saved content (Favorites? Bookmarks? Saved items?)
- The payment action (Purchase? Buy? Order? Checkout?)
- Pick one term per concept. Flag the rest as inconsistencies.
🌍 Real-World Example
Before review:
| Location | Text |
|---|---|
| Home page button | "Sign Up" |
| Confirmation email | "Registration complete!" |
| Welcome screen | "Account created" |
| Settings nav item | "Your Profile" |
| Error on login | "Incorrect login details" |
| Success toast | "You're logged in!" |
Problems found:
- 3 terms for account creation: "Sign Up", "Registration", "Account created"
- 2 terms for the user entity: "Profile", "Account"
- "Login details" vs "Sign In" inconsistency
Recommended standard terms:
- Signing up → "Create account" / "Sign up"
- The user's identity → "Account"
- Logging in → "Sign in"
💡 Pro Tips
💡 Tip 1: Create a terminology glossary for your product. It takes 30 minutes and saves hours of contradictions. Add to it at the start of every project.
💡 Tip 2: Error messages should answer three questions: What happened? Why? What can the user do about it? If your error message answers all three — it's good copy.
💡 Tip 3: The most neglected place for UI text is empty states. "No results found." — ok. "No results found for 'flibbertigibbet'. Try a different search term or browse our categories." — great.
📋 Summary
- Terminology consistency: one term per concept, everywhere in the product
- Error message quality: tell the user what happened, why, and what to do
- The Mom Test: would a non-technical person understand this?
- Completeness check: no Lorem ipsum, placeholder text, or truncated labels
Module 3 complete! You can now review Figma files like a pro. Module 4 takes us to user-facing documentation — the stuff users actually read. 📚