This slidecast shows part of the work I did for Cascadia. For an overview of that project, see Cascadia.edu website redesign.
All Entries in
user interface writing
Disaster preparedness toolkit for nonprofits
“Cate transformed a traditional piece of sequential learning into a dynamic online experience.”
Client: Northern California Grantmakers, San Francisco
Challenges: Northern California Grantmakers was publishing an online toolkit of guidelines and checklists to help foundations prepare their facilities and grantmaking capabilities in case of a major emergency. NCG’s staff had compiled useful content, but the content needed adjustment to meet basic guidelines for website usability.
Dutchgirl’s solutions
To make the toolkit “web ready,” I provided these deliverables:
- Website outline with an easy-to-understand name for each page
- Homepage wireframe that designated space to describe the purpose of the toolkit and links to all of the key sections
- Edited content with edits focused on a few kinds of changes that would make the site easier to navigate and help to optimize it for searching
I also provided content guidelines to help NCG produce more consistent, user friendly, and searchable content while keeping budgets for future website updates to a minimum.
New homepage for toolkit
Live page:
NCG disaster preparedness toolkit 
Website redesign for green real estate consultant
Client: Galley Eco Capital, San Francisco
Challenges: Old site did not describe company’s current services; site lacked keywords that would support usability and search engine optimization.
Dutchgirl’s solutions
To help the company generate more leads in a rapidly growing and shifting market, I wrote and organized new website content. First, I interviewed principal and financing expert Lisa Galley, then provided these deliverables:
- Strategy summary Summary of goals and priorities for the site and other strategic information
- Site outline Map showing navigation to the information and functions on the site
- Homepage wireframe Diagram of the homepage, with space assigned to the highest-priority goals defined in the strategy summary
- Site content Content that supported Galley Eco Capital’s strategic business priorities and followed usability guidelines for web content
New homepage
Live page at:
galleyecocapital.com
Web application for child welfare professionals
Client: Administrative Office of the Courts (State of California), San Francisco
Challenges: AOC asked me to copyedit “static text” for an online application, but little of the copy in the application met usability standards for user interfaces. The site provides resources for child welfare attorneys and social workers.
Dutchgirl’s solutions
With the client’s permission, I rewrote virtually all of the copy for the application. Key improvements included these changes:
- Developed information architecture: Improved navigation in the application, writing navigation labels that were easy to understand and comprehensive.
- Prioritized information: Retooled planned page layout and content so that the most-used information appeared high on each page.
- Rewrote for maximum “information scent”: Rewrote the copy into concise, active sentences packed with keywords that orient users.
- Made other usability recommendations: Recommended changes to meet other website usability standards. Examples: Add a “Search” label next to the search box; activate functionality with the Return key; and streamline functionality of site registration form.
Live page:
California Dependency Online Guide
User interface writing and guidelines for intranet applications
Client/employer: Intuit
Challenges: Reduce internal support and operations costs, increase employees’ use of benefits programs, and improve productivity and internal communication.
Dutchgirl’s solutions
I wrote user interface copy and designed interaction for a variety of intranet applications, including:
- An internal news and information site — with interfaces for both readers and authors of articles, and guidelines for authors
- A stock purchase plan signup tool for employees; see Employee Signup for Stock Purchase Plan
- A “pay decision tool” for managers
I wrote navigation and other labels, onscreen instructions, error messages, help, and automatically generated emails.
For more details
… or to discuss your project, contact us.
Employee signup for stock purchase plan
Employer: Intuit, Mountain View, California
Challenges: Design an intranet application to replace the paper form used for employee stock purchase plan signup and changes. Putting the functionality online changed the process for the staff processing the changes, as well as for employee users. Because an employee might incur financial risk by using the application, help text had to be carefully worded.
Dutchgirl’s solutions
I wrote user interface copy for several different user scenarios based on business requirements of the company’s stock plan. Here are the deliverables I produced:
- Application flow: Flowchart for each user scenario: new signup, changes to contribution during or after open enrollment, withdrawal from the plan, and several others.
- Interface copy and help: Series of screens for login and for each user scenario, including instructions to the engineers for dynamic text. A chart of error messages mapped to issues. Context-sensitive help about ESPP paycheck contributions and the rules of the plan.
- Emails: Messages automatically generated by the system to send employees confirmation of changes they had made in the application, including instructions to engineers for dynamic text.
Content and UI writing for caregiver resource site
“Caregiving professionals are always looking for resources they can confidently recommend to families. Cate’s concise, clear descriptions made a great contribution to the CaregiverZone site’s credibility among my colleagues.” Dean Kidder, RN, Director of Business Development
Client: CaregiverZone, a resource site for caregivers of elderly relatives; www.caregiverzone.com
Challenges: Provide informational support for family members making important and sometimes urgent decisions about a relative’s treatment, care, or placement in an institution. Treat an emotionally sensitive topic with sensitivity while providing clear, concise information on health care, health insurance, and legal issues.
Dutchgirl’s solutions
Working with staff, outside health care experts, and usability consultants, I provided these deliverables:
- Concise descriptions of caregiving resources in over 100 categories, from Meals on Wheels programs to Medicare rules
- User interface copy for site registration, sign-in, and sign-out, including contextual help, error messages, and automatically generated email messages
- Other site content, such as company information
- A style guide for content and user interface copy
America Online introduced CaregiverZone as its caregiving portal in summer 2000. USA Today named it a “hot site” in March 2000.
For more details
… or to discuss your project, contact us.
Family tree tool for assessing inherited health risks
Client: GeneticHealth, San Mateo, Calif. Website: GeneticHealth.org
Challenges: Design a usable interface for a tool to help users classify their risk for inherited diseases.
Dutchgirl’s solutions
I worked with a genetic counseling expert to refine questions and answers into a usable interface for a tool that produced a health risk report.
For more details
… or to discuss your project, contact us.
How-tos for WebTV subscribers
Client: WebTV (Microsoft)
Challenges: Describe to people who have never used computers (or, in some cases, even a typewriter) some basic features of WebTV and the Web, and how to begin using them.
Dutchgirl’s solutions
Many WebTV subscribers were unaware of how they could use WebTV. To help new subscribers get started and to reduce subscriber churn, I wrote tips that subscribers received in a series of emails. The tips:
- Used plain language to explain basic features of WebTV and the Web, such as the address book and bookmarking, and used common real-world tasks in examples
- Concentrated key phrases in subject lines to communicate the topic and benefit of each tip (so that the subscriber would know whether the message was of interest without opening it)
- Included links in the tips to the relevant functionality in WebTV
For more details
… or to discuss your project, contact us.