Star Wars isn’t the first thing you think about when you hear “content inconsistencies.”

But that’s what a question on an online Star Wars forum asked: “How do you deal with inconsistencies across content?”

How do people deal with inconsistencies across Star Wars content?

Some tried to come up with explanations for the inconsistencies:

“Personally I try to head canon explanations for why things get mixed up from content to content.

For example, I usually try to justify inconsistencies in when the Clone Wars took place from the Bantam era as a result of misinformation on the narrators’ part. In the Thrawn novels we mostly get information about the Clone Wars from characters too young to have experienced the events first hand.”

Some might think it’s best to just ignore or overlook such inconsistencies, the poster mentioned.

Someone said this is just the reality of every multimedia franchise, especially when they’re as vast as Star Wars is. 

Someone else used Good stories vs Bad Stories to sort content into categories.

Someone assumed most people, including them, believed a Star Wars character was lying.

What does it take for content inconsistencies to ruin experiences?

I’m always drawn to examples of content and information architecture seeping into people’s personal lives, so this conversation piqued my interest.

A little typo here and there, the same feature referred to differently, deleting their unsaved changes without asking them… Users are willing to bypass some negative experiences, but when does it become too much? What does it take for content inconsistencies to ruin something?

Errors alone don’t ruin the story, said a commenter in the Star Wars thread.

“I recognize that the errors exist but unless the author willfully bulldozes pre-existing storytelling (i.e. Vergere Sith retcon) it doesn’t “ruin” a story for me.”

But there’s that pesky unless.

Consider how people might fill out that sentence when using your product.

“It doesn’t ruin it for me unless

─────────────────────.”

The latest Little Language Models article highlighted scenarios where content consistency is unignorable, using team expansion as an example, showing that as teams grow, so do content inconsistencies.

A larger team completes more work and brings diverse perspectives. But despite any similarities, people think and speak differently, which shows up in the product language across product descriptions, error messages, button copy, landing pages, email notifications, and pricing pages.

For example, the Chinese language doesn’t really have plural forms. Jay, a Chinese-speaking engineer, occasionally writes interface copy. Would you blame her for omitting the plural in the “5 entries moved to Trash” confirmation message?

On its own, a missing “-s” or “-es” isn’t going to make or break your product’s user experience. But this example is one of thousands of language variations in product content. It’s one person, one grammar topic (removing the plural form), and one interaction (confirmation message). Consider all your interface copy and the variations in product content created by different engineers, product managers, and designers.

Is consistency in product content that important?

Prevent content inconsistencies from undermining user experience

1. Identify common user drop-off points in your journeys
2. Brainstorm what would cause users to abandon your platform
3. Fill out the sentences below from your users’ perspective

“It doesn’t ruin it for me unless ─────────────────────.”

Types of content inconsistencies to consider when identifying potential reasons for user drop-off

1. Length – a verb vs a sentence vs a paragraph for the same component
2. Tone – formal vs informal, technical vs accessible, polite vs snarky
3. Terminology – different terms for the same concept (List Item vs Entry)
4. Groupings – different grouping types (Entries grouped by size vs department vs recency)
5. Hierarchy – different placements for the same component (at the top of the dashboard vs at the bottom)
6. Industry standards – if 99.9% of banks use the term Interchange to describe the fees exchanged between financial institutions for processing transactions, a bank should have a valid reason for not using the term (i.e., different audience needs, user research findings)
7. Appearance – the same component is displayed differently visually across the platform (a link vs an accordion vs a slider)

Do you and your colleagues notice differences or inconsistencies in your platforms? How do you usually deal with content inconsistencies at your company?

AI Policy: I personally write each draft and final copy on this website. All content reflects my own thinking, ideas, style, and craft.  I do not use AI such as ChatGPT or other LLMs to generate articles. Occasionally, I ask AI (such as Formalizer or Equativ) to summarize or re-state my own ideas and may restructure sections based on the response.