Use content-design

Write a content spec for a page or journey from user needs

Write a content spec for a page or journey from user needs — user-need statements ("As a… I need… so that…"), the questions the page must answer in priority order, the page structure, a plain-language rewrite at a target reading level with a before/after readability check, and an explicit list of what to cut and why.

Reach for it when the user wants a content spec, content design, "rewrite this page in plain English", "what should this page say", "our page is too long and nobody reads it", or content for a service or journey.

Install it

npx skilldrop-cli install content-design                 # Claude Code, your user folder
npx skilldrop-cli install content-design --project       # Claude Code, this repo
npx skilldrop-cli install content-design --ide cursor    # or kiro, codex, antigravity, copilot

It is part of the Experience design pack: --pack experience-design installs it with its neighbours.

It ships scripts, so it needs Python 3 (standard library only, nothing to install). What they may touch is declared in its manifest.

Ask for it

Say it the way you would to a colleague. Requests like these route to it:

• "Rewrite our refunds policy page in plain English so customers understand it"
• "Write a content spec for the new 'Apply for a grant' page — user needs, what it must answer, what to cut"
• "Our benefits page is 2,000 words and nobody reads it. What should it actually say?"
• "Work out the content for each page of our account-closure journey from user needs"

Requests like these belong to a different skill, so it shouldn't answer them:

• "Write the error messages and button labels for the claim form"
• "Turn these setup notes into a step-by-step getting-started guide for new developers"
• "Design the navigation and sitemap for our help centre"

If another skill answers instead, ask for this one by name: "use content-design".

Check what you get

A good result:

• Every need names a specific reader, a need and an outcome, with an evidence tag.
• Questions are ranked, and the page order follows the ranking. The top question is answered in the first two sentences.
• Headings are in the reader's words.
• The draft keeps every fact from the source, and every change of meaning is flagged. Plain language never changes a rule.
• No sentence over 25 words in the draft, and the script's before/after numbers are reported as it printed them.
• The cut list accounts for everything removed, with a reason each.
• Nothing is invented. Fees, deadlines, eligibility and contact details not in the source are {placeholder}s listed in open questions.

See a worked example

• parking permit page

Use something else when

• Button labels, errors, empty states and other interface strings — that's ux-writing
• A step-by-step setup guide, walkthrough or API reference — that's guide-builder
• Where pages live and how the navigation groups them — that's information-architecture
• The persona's whole path and emotions across stages — that's user-journey-map

Next

• SKILL.md, the instructions the agent reads
• Its page on the site
• Related: guide-builder, information-architecture, user-journey-map, ux-writing

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