# Copy moves

The move for each part of the page, distilled from a study of professional sites written before
language models (2014 to 2021). Every example here is written for this file, for made-up clients: learn
the move, never the line. The rules of `copy.md` hold throughout: the h1 names the category, every
heading has its noun, buttons are a verb and an object, nothing is invented.

## The hero

Professional heroes are short (2 to 9 words), one clause, never two adjectives stacked. On a tasteskill
page the h1 names the category, so the form is chosen among the ones that do:

| Form | Example | When |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Category and buyer | "Payroll app for restaurant teams" | software, a service nobody knows yet |
| Category and place | "Bakery on Mill Street, Leith" | every place |
| Category and a true, unexpected promise | "Tax return app that asks eleven questions" | the category is known and the twist is in the brief |
| Category and one striking customer | "Rota planner for the night shift at three hospitals" | the brief names that customer and it may be shown |
| Category and scope | "Card payments for market stalls" | infrastructure, B2B with a real scope |
| Category, place and year | "Guesthouse on the lake shore since 1962" | the brief gives the year |
| A narrow superlative | "The only ferry to the island in winter" | the brief proves it, and the next line says how |
| Name and genre | "Kelpmoor, a co-op sailing game" | a game |

The other forms professionals use (a greeting, a line to the reader's state of mind, a question, an
imperative, an enemy, a twisted idiom, product news) never take the h1. They can take the sub-line, a
section's first line, the close, or the page's one brand line, each with a fact beside it:

- **The reader's state:** "Three hundred emails since Friday? The inbox sorts them by sender before you
  open it."
- **An enemy, a habit or a category:** "Most booking forms ask for your life story. Ours asks for two
  dates."
- **Product news, plain:** "New this spring: the 12-litre model, same price."

**The sub-line:** software and services: how it works and the main benefit, 15 to 30 words, one fact or
one mechanism, never a row of adjectives. A place: the fact with today's hours, 80 characters at most.

## Section headings

- **The name with a claim under it** is the default: a heading that names the part ("Rooms and
  prices") and one line under it that claims ("Six rooms, all with the lake on one side").
- **A verb and the thing** works where the reader does something: "Send invoices from the van", "Plan
  the week's shifts". Never a bare command ("Get started", "Come climb").
- **A plain claim with its noun:** "Pays staff on the same day".
- **A figure from the brief:** "212 routes, reset every Tuesday".
- **Questions only in the FAQ.** A heading is never a question (`copy.md`); the line under the close's
  heading may ask once, plainly, when the register allows it.

## About and story

1. **Start in a moment the brief gives, not a thesis:** the day the oven arrived, the first market
   stall, the season the river flooded the cellar.
2. **Anecdotes, a timeline or questions, never value pillars** ("Our values: quality, community,
   passion" is the weakest about page there is).
3. **Failure and luck belong in the plot** when the brief has them: the first plan that did not work,
   the landlord who said yes.
4. **Founders as people, not titles,** and only the names the brief gives.
5. **Values as behaviours with numbers:** "We pay growers twice the market price"; a rule, not an
   adjective.
6. **End in a modest present tense,** not a vision: "Eleven of us now, and the same oven."
7. **Say how to reach them:** the form, the street, the hours.

A portfolio's about: one line with what the person does (a deflating word welcome), what they make and
for whom, one or two projects with dates, one sentence of belief, availability as a plain date.

## Features and how it works

- **The mechanism in verb-led steps:** "Forward the invoice. The app reads the total and the due date.
  It pays on the day you choose."
- **The outcome first, the feature as its proof:** "Nobody misses a shift change", then how the
  reminder works.
- **A moment, not a use case:** "Your drummer cancels at six; the stand-in gets the set list at
  6:01."
- **Real values in the examples:** times, sizes, amounts, never "customisable".
- **The product doing the work:** UI fragments with the client's own data, names and numbers
  (`cards.md`). On tech the UI carries most of the words (`copy.md`, the tech word budget).
- **Names are copy too:** rooms, plans, blends and models the brief names, used the same way every
  time.
- **Card length varies with the material:** a title (a verb and an object) and one or two sentences;
  a card the brief knows a lot about may run longer than its neighbours.

## Proof

- **Only what the brief gives:** quotes word for word with the name and role or town, figures with
  their source, logos of real customers who may be shown.
- **Let others say the superlatives,** with full attribution.
- **Rough beats polished:** a real quote stays as written, lowercase and all.
- **A rule instead of a claim:** "Every frame is brazed by the person who measured you" proves the
  craft without the word.
- **None is fine.** Craft, luxury and small places often show no testimonials: the photographs and the
  facts carry the page.

## Prices, FAQ, booking: the plain zone

- **The tone drops to facts:** the reader is anxious here.
- **Perks priced and literal:** "Late checkout until 14:00 for 15 euro", "Bike hire 12 euro a day".
- **A risk reversal beside the button, only when true:** "Cancel up to two days before, free".
- **Admit limits in the FAQ:** "Android comes next year; today it is iPhone only."
- **Ask the buyer's real objection and answer it flatly:** "Can I take my data out? Yes: every table
  exports as CSV, any time."

## Buttons and the close

- **A verb and the real object** (`copy.md` rule 4): "Book a room", "Order a cake", "Start a free
  trial".
- **Literal even when the register plays:** the button says what happens next.
- **A low-pressure exit for browsers** where the register fits: "See the rooms first".
- **The close restates the hero's promise with one fact** from the brief, and the main action word for
  word.

## Microcopy: where a voice is most welcome

Write these whenever the page has them; a stock form error under a hand-tuned hero gives the game
away. The form rules of `copy.md` hold (a label says what goes in, an error names the field and what to
type, the sent line names what was sent in the button's words); the register shows in the words around
them:

- **Form error:** "Mondays we are closed: choose a day from Tuesday to Sunday."
- **Sent message:** "Your table request is in. We answer before noon the next day." (the time from the brief)
- **Empty state:** "No notes yet. Your first meeting lands here when it ends."
- **404:** "This page moved. The menu and the hours are one click up."
- **Newsletter confirmation:** "Subscribed. The next letter goes out on the first Sunday of the
  month." (the rhythm from the brief)
- **Field hint:** "Only for this booking." (and only what the brief promises)

## The footer

Facts only: the legal row of `copy.md` (the brand, this year, Privacy, Terms, the credits line), the
street and district, the hours on a place. No sign-off, no pun built on the name.

## Numbers and humour

- **Odd human numbers beat round big ones:** "eleven people came to the first tasting", "45 seconds
  per side", when the brief gives them.
- **Every number sits in a sentence,** beside the claim it proves.
- **Humour points at ourselves, never the customer,** and lives in brackets, asides and microcopy, not
  at the end of every paragraph. None on a serious purchase (money, health) beyond the microcopy.
- **Rhythm on purpose, once:** a run of short sentences that paints a scene, a list that ends on a
  surprise, one long sentence beside a short one.