Characteristics Good Error Messages
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Writing Good Error Messages
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Characteristics Of Effective Messages
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Error Message Ux
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messages January 11, 2011 Error messages are a necessary part of every formOn electronic forms, error messages indicate when input is missing or invalid.Even if your form has been carefully designed with great user experience in mind, you'll friendly error messages examples still need error messages as form-fillers are…well…only human. We all make typographical mistakes, accidentally
Error Message Guidelines
miss fields and make our own, sometimes unusual, interpretation of questions and field labels.Principles of good error message designThere are plenty error messages best practices of solid articles on the web that enumerate the principles behind well-designed error messages, from Jakob Nielsen's advice in 2001 to the relevant section of the current Windows User Experience Interaction Guidelines. A recent article https://www.nngroup.com/articles/error-message-guidelines/ that is a favourite of ours is “Communicating errors” by UserFocus in the UK.All of these guidelines boil down to one small and straightforward set of principles that apply to each error:tell the form-filler that an error has occured;be clear about exactly what and where that error is; andprovide the form-filler with the information and tools they need to be able to correct the error, or otherwise get out of the http://www.formulate.com.au/blog/well-designed-error-messages situation.Underlying these principles is a more general one about forms: be respectful of the user. A form is a conversation between two parties and like the equivalent in real life, being rude doesn't help anyone. This is especially the case when you consider that error messages are delivered at precisely the point where the user has encountered a barrier to task completion.The missing example: error messaging done wellThe numerous guidelines and articles available on the web are supplemented by design patterns on sites like Welie.com (called “Input Error Message”) and UI-patterns.com (called “Input Feedback”). And while all of the aforementioned resources include examples of poor error messages, you can always get more from a showcase like the one on Elements of Design or the plethora on Flickr (a favourite is “Interface Insults”).So with all this information, why are we writing yet another article on error messages? Because we think there's just one little thing missing from this resource pool: a clearly illustrated example of error messaging done well.Below you'll find a screenshot from an online car insurance quote interface. We think this illustrates the key characteristics of well-designed error messaging. Note that so you can see them better, you'll find the relevant parts of the screen shown also
tips Tips for a better website 4.251 subscribers Once a month Exclusive tips and special offers Fill out your email address * Please enter your email. User-friendly error messages: 7 tipsEls AertsGoogle+0 http://www.agconsult.com/en/usability-blog/user-friendly-error-messages-7-tips reactions Why are error messages important? A lot of websites make usability mistakes http://stackoverflow.com/questions/194537/how-does-one-write-good-error-messages on their form pages. And that costs visitors. On a form page that's extra painful because if you lose a visitor there, you loose a very valuable visitor. A visitor who's willing to make the effort to get in touch with you or perhaps even to order something. A visitor who fills out a error message form (or tries to) is a visitor you should cherish. Here's a few tips. 1. Use the language of the form If the form is in English, the error messages should be in English. Sounds self-evident, I know. And on single-language websites this usually isn't a problem. But on multi-language websites it often is. Error messages are often overlooked in the translation process. Make sure they aren't good error message on your website. 2. Use understandable language Don't use code or words only programmers know the meaning of like "Customerrelation_gender_error" or "FieldT12empty". That's pretty much all I'm going to say about that one. 3. Be nice How hard is it to just be nice? The person filling out your form is a potential customer. If he forgets to fill out a field, say so nicely. 4. Be specific General error messages like "Fill out all the required fields" are an excellent way to scare off potential customers. An error message like "Invalid credit card" isn't exactly helpful either. Give the user more details about what went wrong and what he can do to fix it: "There was an error processing your credit card. Please check your name, credit card number, and card expiration date for correctness. Remember, these must match the card exactly.". The more specific your error message is, the easier it is for the user to fix the problem. 5. Don't blame the user If the user has made a mistake while filling out your form it's not a good idea to rub his nose in it. Don't tell the user what he did wrong. Tell him what
here for a quick overview of the site Help Center Detailed answers to any questions you might have Meta Discuss the workings and policies of this site About Us Learn more about Stack Overflow the company Business Learn more about hiring developers or posting ads with us Stack Overflow Questions Jobs Documentation Tags Users Badges Ask Question x Dismiss Join the Stack Overflow Community Stack Overflow is a community of 4.7 million programmers, just like you, helping each other. Join them; it only takes a minute: Sign up How does one write good error messages? up vote 36 down vote favorite 19 While this is more of a written language issue than a coding one, it is something that programmers must do in circumstances where copy is not provided by a client or someone else. Any examples of error messages, good or bad, are welcome to make the point. I briefly searched and could not find a dupe thread. Ok, have at it. Thanks, all. usability custom-errors share|improve this question edited May 2 '12 at 10:33 Mr Lister 24.8k85381 asked Oct 11 '08 at 20:05 MrBoJangles 6,009134568 1 @[Thohan]: just create a boy-scout tag ;-) –Steven A. Lowe Oct 15 '08 at 16:35 1 Check out this guide from Microsoft, comes with examples and best practices. –user509209 Nov 16 '10 at 7:46 add a comment| 16 Answers 16 active oldest votes up vote 25 down vote Apologise. Say what went wrong. Say how to resolve it. Be polite. The message should be worded so that the application accepts responsibility for the problem. Never blame or criticize the user or make them think it's their fault. Example: "Sorry, the file could not be opened. Please check that the file is not already opened by another program and try again." If there are additional details that would scare the user such as an error number or something else only a developer would understand, don't show them.