Voices of UX
10 UX writing tips for stronger to-do lists
Streamline your lists and elevate your productivity with these microcopy-inspired practices.
In any product or interface, we use microcopy to guide users through projected tasks and workflows.
Whether they’re navigating through a simple login sequence or exploring how to create a new profile section, the words we use to describe and introduce each action matter.
Often, the most intuitive UX writing supports designs by emphasizing a user’s in-product story: It meets users where they are and, like a script or a knowledgable companion, structures a conversation that escorts them to where they want to be.
The best UX writing guides realtime user stories and invites users to share the pen.
Calls to action, verb-focused language, and leading with the benefit are just a few crucial steps toward writing an actionable and empowering user experience. Empowering microcopy places agency and ownership in user hands and encourages higher engagement—and higher satisfaction. Dynamic copy sparks dynamic experiences. And that visual and verbal momentum decreases friction, supporting a more motivational and impactful product experience.
Now consider your regular to-do list as your interface, and yourself as your user. What kind of experience does each list entry, your microcopy, create?
Odds are, not a great one. Most of us write our to-do lists as a quick way to get organized. That note-jotting phase is paramount to creating a list, but only pays off if we… well. Actually use it.
Before giving my to-do lists a microcopy makeover, I used to ditch them by midday. My list entries were inconsistent. Some started with nouns, some with verbs. Some were clear to me when I wrote them, but cryptic by the time I actually reached them.
If I’d written my to-do list like I write my microcopy, that might have been a different story.
All along, I had access to insight about my user—myself—but I rarely considered it. I wrote itemized lists despite knowing I don’t always work in order. I restricted list items to surface-level briefs despite knowing I work best with additional context.
Being myself, I’d already done my user research. In a way, that research was always ongoing. I’d seen problems in practice; I knew the changes I could make to make my lists more usable. But I didn’t my view to-do lists as experiences, so I didn’t take any action to improve them.
In any real-world UX context, this pattern would’ve been a usability nightmare.
Each half-used list indicated a fundamental problem, but I chose to blatantly ignore it and trudge along through the same tired and ineffective workflow. Day after day, I’d half-wonder why I abandoned my list by lunch, then recreate a list with the same exact structure come morning.
Until I was invited to collaborate on guided tour and quick start content, and I realized just how much a UX writing mindset would help.
If I guided myself through my daily tasks like I aimed to guide those users, would I engage more with my to-do lists? Would I feel more accomplished as I checked off each item? Would I actually use an entire list for once?
Yes, yes, and yes.
Building my lists like UX content completely changed the game. And I’ve included my own form of integrative user research: I’m continuing to make informed adjustments along the way based on my own experience, performance, and pain points.
10 UX writing tips to elevate your own to-do list experience:
1. Start each item with a verb.
Sometimes we need a kick to get moving. Why not fold that motivation right into your tasks as you list them? Lead with the action — it’s a small detail that might help you muster the momentum you need to jump in.
When I create my pen-and-paper lists, I like to underline each verb or write it in all caps to better communicate the action I need to take, and facilitate quicker context switches between list items.
2. Limit each item to one full line or less.
In any user interface, large blocks of text can be intimidating. Your to-do list works the same way. Distill each task down to its essential action, items, and end goals.
3. Break complex concepts into multiple lines, steps, or entries.
All of my favorite product tours and wizards are digestible and approachable. Like a quick start, they break complex tasks into multiple steps and package each step into small bites. Think of your to-do list as the launching pad for your daily workflow—it’s there to get you started, organize your plan of attack, and guide you from task to task throughout the day.
Use a small-bite mentality to structure your list and you’ll benefit by:
1. Gliding more nimbly from step to step.
2. Checking off more lines more often.
When it comes to to-do lists, the pleasure’s all in the cross-off: Splice tasks into smaller steps to maximize your opportunity to slice lines with your inky (or clicky) sword.
4. Ditch articles. (Linguistic ones, that is.)
The, a, that… Small words we fold into long form writing or speech don’t need to occupy extra real estate on your list. Try condensing each line to its bare essentials: Nouns, verbs, and the occasional adjective. Then, read it through and add back only the articles that help you understand that line in context.
Before: Finish up to slide 25 in the microcopy course deck.
After: Complete 25 slides of microcopy course deck.
5. Create task categories and sort your list accordingly.
If you’re not a work-in-order, plug-and-chug kind of list checker, this option’s for you. Separate your tasks into categories: Heads down work, communications, calls, follow-ups. Some minor content architecture could help you structure your day, especially if you navigate numbered to-do list as more of a suggested order than a defined workflow.
6. Add a mental (or physical) progress bar.
Research suggests progress bars help manage user expectations, establish awareness about where they are in their current task flow, and help their anxieties at bay. Why not fold this usability feature into your own daily flow?
Simply add today’s tasks together and color in each percentage accordingly. If you have 10 tasks to finish for today, each task completed would add 10% progress to your bar. Unless you break out a ruler, you’ll likely approximate each addition. The trick here isn’t total accuracy, but rather the act of coloring in that white space, giving yourself an extra moment beyond each check to acknowledge the work you’ve cleared off your plate.
If you use an online content management system like Trello or Asana, you may not need a progress bar to visually acknowledge how far you’ve progressed. (Personally, I love any excuse to doodle anyway.)
7. Supplement each task with an estimated duration.
Nobody likes going in blind: Not users, not designers, and (most likely) not you. Times can be difficult to predict, but adding expected durations could help shift a monotonous to-do list into an approximate itinerary.
Got limited bandwidth to spread across multiple tasks with different due dates? Consider shifting this “duration” to a “time limit” indicator instead. For tasks that can bleed on into eternity (like article writing or online research), I like to use this opportunity to cap the amount of time I’m willing to devote to it per day. It’s as easy as one, two, three:
1. Choose a duration and write it beside your task.
2. When you reach that list item, set a timer for that allotted time.
3. Press start, get to work, and let the clock do its thing.
This way, you avoid stressing about whether or not you’ll have time to address a given task, or whether you’ll remember to check the clock at varied intervals throughout the process.
I tend to use this approach between meetings, devoting 30-minute to one-hour chunks of time to tackle smaller tasks or chisel away at larger, multi-step ones. Setting predetermined durations also helps contain tasks that could spill over into your entire day. For perfectionists like me, it’s a godsend: I may want to keep tinkering with a certain project until I’m blue in the face, but a screaming timer keeps me on track.
8. List relevant resources or references for easy access.
User interfaces often surface links to in-depth documentation users can consult for more context, guidance, and information about a certain task to help streamline their workflow. Why not do the same for yourself?
Online, this might take the form of pasting a link to a GitHub issue, pull request, or other resource directly into a task card.
Offline, you might write a quick summary of applicable resources below their corresponding list item. Keep this note short. Include just a few key words to help yourself understand how to locate the reference you’ll need to get the task done:
1. Update form guidelines and images.
See GitHub Issue #2351 for details.
9. Add a daily objective at the top of your list or page.
We create user interfaces and products with specific experiential goals in mind — and users comes those experiences with their own expectations, too. A user opening a food delivery app arrives with the expectation that they’ll be able to order food to their doorstep—but they also expect that the search, order, and delivery will run smoothly. Replace “user” and “food delivery app” with you and your to-dos, and suddenly you’ve got your daily tasks framed in a UX context:
I create my to-do list with the expectation that I’ll be able to guide and accomplish these tasks throughout the day—but I also expect that list creation, reading, and task completion will run smoothly.
It’s easy to get swept up in numbers and checks, but how we move through that to-do list makes a difference. Anchoring our workflow with a macro-level objective can help.
For this step, I work backwards. I wrap up my list and define an objective that touches on common themes that surface throughout. If my list contains a lot of content creation, my objective might be something like Be open to inspiration from unlikely places. If my day is packed tight with tasks, I’ll even add something as simple as, Take breaks between projects.
10. Define and differentiate task states similar to how you might approach distinguishing states for any UI component.
A binary incomplete vs. complete structure can only get us so far, and it might leave us with lots of empty checkboxes by the end of a particularly jam packed day. Some work will span multiple days or multiple lists — but shouldn’t we have a way to indicate that progress has been made on a task, even if it isn’t finished?
Enter cross-off and checkmark variations, the key to maintaining a to-do list that accurately reflects and responds to the progress you make in real time.
If your list were made of UI components, you might sort them into states with corresponding patterns or colors, similar to how we use color to define PatternFly states like Danger, Default, Success, and Warning. Swap those element-focused states with states applicable to your task flow: In progress, Halfway done, Paused, and Completed, and you’ve got an easy four-state system to apply to any to-do list.
Online content management systems feature categories, card columns, and tags to do this for you. If you’re an old school pen-and-paper lister, this step lets you get a little more creative. Experiment with colored pens, partial cross-offs, and patterns to find the visual cues that best suit you.
These UX writing tips are just a starting point.
Tap into other microcopy best practices to build the best to-do list experience for you!
For more microcopy inspiration as you revamp your lists, check out PatternFly’s UX writing style guide.
Have a story of your own? Write with us! Our community thrives on diverse voices — let’s hear yours.
