Error Messages And Usability
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Examples Of Good Error Messages
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Experience View 21 comments Outline In order to display error messages on forms, you need to consider the following four basic rules: The friendly error messages examples error message needs to be short and meaningful The placement of
Form Error Messages Design
the message needs to be associated with the field The message style needs to be separated from the
"error Message" Guidelines
style of the field labels and instructions The style of the error field needs to be different than the normal field By combining these four rules, it is possible http://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2010/08/avoid-being-embarrassed-by-your-error-messages.php to provide the necessary information to users where they have made mistakes on filling in forms and how to rectify them quickly and easily. This will encourage and help users to continue with their journey on the site; reduce basket abandonment; increase site registrations; increase enquiries about an application form and so forth. Introduction A typical interaction with http://www.nomensa.com/blog/2010/4-rules-displaying-error-messages-user-experience-perspective many websites is filling in forms. For example, if you are buying something online, you have to give your card details, delivery address and other personal information. By clever placement of labels, instructions to fill in a field and additional design elements can make a form less daunting and may result in fewer mistakes made (Jarrett, C. and Gaffney, G., 2008). However, I have seen that users make the same mistakes on forms again and again as these websites show error messages which are either not very clear to the user or because of their placement; users are unclear what messages relate to. This article focuses on how to provide error messages on forms from a user experience perspective. The message The error message needs to be clear, precise, short and punchy. Users should be able to immediately understand what ‘mistakes they have made’ and how to recover the error. This is fundamental and will have a huge impact if users can’t immediately understand what mistake they have made. One example of
helps prevent customers from making errors. A site is error-tolerant if, despite evident errors in input, the intended result may be achieved with either no or minimal corrective action by http://www.userfocus.co.uk/resources/helpchecklist.html the customer. List of usability guidelines for help, feedback and error tolerance The FAQ or on-line help provides step-by-step instructions to help users carry out the most important tasks. It is http://completeusability.com/improved-error-handling-part-1-helping-users-notice-errors/ easy to get help in the right form and at the right time. Prompts are brief and unambiguous. The user does not need to consult user manuals or other external information error message to use the site. The site uses a customised 404 page, which includes tips on how to find the missing page and links to "Home" and Search. The site provides good feedback (e.g. progress indicators or messages) when needed (e.g. during checkout). Users are given help in choosing products. User confirmation is required before carrying out potentially "dangerous" actions (e.g. deleting something). Confirmation good error messages pages are clear. Error messages contain clear instructions on what to do next. Immediately prior to committing to the purchase, the site shows the user a clear summary page and this will not be confused with a purchase confirmation page. When the user needs to choose between different options (such as in a dialog box), the options are obvious. The site keeps users informed about unavoidable delays in the site's response time (e.g. when authorising a credit card transaction). Error messages are written in a non-derisory tone and do not blame the user for the error. Pages load quickly (5 seconds or less). The site provides immediate feedback on user input or actions. The user is warned about large, slow-loading pages (e.g. "Please wait…"), and the most important information appears first. Where tool tips are used, they provide useful additional help and do not simply duplicate text in the icon, link or field label. When giving instructions, pages tell users what to do rather than what to avoid doing. The site shows users how to do common tasks where appropriate (e.g. with demonstrations of the site's functionali
aspect of user interface and experience design that’s often pushed to the bottom of the priority list or overlooked altogether. After all, let’s face it - error handling isn’t very sexy especially compared to graphic design and other branding elements. Unfortunately giving short shrift to errors often results in higher abandonment rates and lower conversion. In the first part of this two-part entry I’m going to review some best practices for displaying error messages. In part two we’ll get into the messaging itself. But first things first - let’s look at the importance of ensuring users actually notice when they’ve encountered a problem. Your attention please It happens more often than you might think, and I’ve seen it more times than I can count in user testing sessions. Users make a small mistake on a form or encounter a system error and simply don’t notice the resulting error message. This often leads to substantial frustration - for example a user trying again and again to submit a form or complete a transaction, unsuccessfully - until they finally give up. The biggest problems of this nature occur when: Error messages appear above or below the fold. The term "below the fold" comes from newspaper publishing, where printed newspapers are often folded in half, leaving major stories visible "above the fold" and less important stores "below the fold", requiring the reader to open the paper fully or flip the paper over to see them. For a website or application the term refers to the information that's visible when a scrolling page or screen first loads, before the user scrolls. If information is "below the fold" it means the user must scroll down to see it. This is a bigger problem in website design than application design, but it comes up in both. Suppose a user is interacting with a scrolling page (for example, a long form with a submit button at the bottom) and triggers an error condition. If the error is displayed in a location where it’s not immediately visible such as the very top or very bottom of the display, the user often won't see it. The user then wonders why he or she can’t move forward in the process - and often repeats the action that caused the error. Or in some cases the user scrolls up or down the page but still doesn’t see the message because they haven’t scrolled up or down far enough. Error messages don’t stand out. Often error messages are displayed within the user’s field of vision but fail to stand out, for example because they’re too small or are displayed in a manner that can't easily be differentiated from th