Example Software Error Messages
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worked long hours this week for an upcoming product introduction. You’re tired and cranky, and you just want the weekend to finally arrive.But first you have to try if the homepage for the new product works fine on Windows 10. No problem, you think, your trusty Mac friendly error messages examples laptop has software installed that allows you to run Windows.You fire up the software, and error message examples text when Windows politely asks you to update with several intrusive notifications, you say, sure, go ahead.And then you see this.Something somethingThat would be error messages ux almost amusing, if it wasn’t for the deadline for the product.Well, you say, let’s blow off some steam and share that screenshot with the world — or at least, with the Twitter world.Excitedly you drag the screenshot into the error messages best practices Mac Twitter client, and hit the Tweet button. Then this happens:Those pesky media ids are at it again!When you finally come to your senses after contemplating the Weltschmerz of the universal suffering brought upon humanity by lazy programmers and designers who don’t think — you think perhaps some great food will help.An excellent plan! Thanks to the awesome power of millions of dollars of venture capital and hordes of mustache-twirling techno-hipsters spending the best years of their youth
Error Message Text
in swanky San Francisco loft offices, let’s order burrito delivery!But first, just answer this one important philosophical question that Postmates has for you, out of the blue and with no context.I tapped “No”. I’m really not.What goes into an actually useful error message or dialog?After this dramatization of events that actually happened to me last week, let’s have a look at what a great error message should be like.Let’s see what people that should know better* think about this. Apple has been at the forefront of user interface design for many years, and while they’ve been slacking off recently (perhaps no one throws cameras at the designers anymore), they do have some good things to say.Here’s what the OS X Human Interface Guidelines tell you about alerts:Write an alert message that describes the alert situation clearly and succinctly. An alert message such as “An error occurred” is mystifying to all users and is likely to annoy experienced users. (…) Write informative text that elaborates on the consequences and suggests a solution or alternative. Give as much information as necessary to explain why the user should care about the situation. (…) Informative text is best when it includes a suggestion for fixing the problem. (…) Express everything in the user’s vocabulary. An alert is an especially bad place to be cryptic or to use esoteric language,
Start 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
Error Message List
Learn more about hiring developers or posting ads with us User Experience Questions Tags Users good error message text Badges Unanswered Ask Question _ User Experience Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for user experience researchers and experts. Join them; error message text prank it only takes a minute: Sign up Here's how it works: Anybody can ask a question Anybody can answer The best answers are voted up and rise to the top What is the recommended wording for a https://medium.com/@thomasfuchs/how-to-write-an-error-message-883718173322 generic error message up vote 36 down vote favorite 19 What would be the best wording for a generic error message? With generic error message I mean a message for an error that has occured but there are no details on what the error is or how to recover from it. It will be used exclusively as a fallback solution when it is not possible to determine the error either because the server did not http://ux.stackexchange.com/questions/39101/what-is-the-recommended-wording-for-a-generic-error-message sent any additional details or there is a "probable" timeout... and other similar edge cases. It should be aimed to minimize the amount of frustration/anger. I've read a few threads but none of them seems to be 100% relevant Recommendations for good resources on writing good error messages Standardized (web) application error messages? [closed] This is actually a very close match but error reports are out of scope in my case What will be the Best notifications and error messages? Error Message Advice (for asynchronous/background tasks) Generic/vague error messages to pass to spammy users? copywriting error-message wording share|improve this question edited May 4 '13 at 13:32 JohnGB♦ 57.7k19154265 asked May 3 '13 at 15:11 Toni Toni Chopper 8821718 An unexpected error occurred... –Justin Meiners May 4 '13 at 0:07 add a comment| 9 Answers 9 active oldest votes up vote 39 down vote accepted A good error message should: Let you know what the problem is. Make you feel like there is something that you can do about it. Speak like a human, and be a consistent extension of the personality of the rest of the application. For generic error messages, you can't do much about the first point, but you can do something about the other two. Do something that lets the user know that the problem isn't being ignored. Le
A-Z of Madcap Flare A-Z of API Documentation MS Office Templates Technical Writing Software Development Software Testing Sales and Marketing User Guide Apple Templates Pages and Numbers templates Documentation Plan http://www.ihearttechnicalwriting.com/write-error-messages/ Software Development Software Testing Customers iTunes Template App Search How to Write Error Messages: Faster, Stronger, Better February 23, 2015 By Ivan Walsh Blame the cat, TV, or the neighbors if http://stackoverflow.com/questions/194537/how-does-one-write-good-error-messages you want. The thing is: stuff happens. When it does, you need some way to fix it, pronto. Aren't I right? This is where error messages can save you bacon. No error message one thinks of writing an error message guide until it's too late. So, I'm telling you now, grasshopper: Get cracking on that Error Message Guide before it happens. Why oh why do I need an Error Message Guide? Here's the skinny… These guidelines will help you write error messages that are easy to update and useful for customers. If you think about error message text it, error messages are the first line of customer support. If written poorly, error messages increase technical support costs. They also frustrate customers, lose sales, and reflects poorly on your software, app, or website. Errors are a fact of life in software development. Every site has 404 errors. Every software has bugs, known issues, and glitches. Once we accept that, we can begin to help customers use our software, and help them get around the issues they encounter. If you think of it like that, the issue isn't the error message it is our attitude to creating error messages. Ok, let's assume that we want to create really helpful error message, you know, the type we'd like to see if we got lost on a website, using an app, or trying to fill a form on an application. What's the purpose of an error message? A well-written error message tells you, the user, the following: What has happened Why has it occurred How it impacts you and What you, the user, can do to prevent it happening again? The error message must include enough i
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 25k85381 asked Oct 11 '08 at 20:05 MrBoJangles 6,014134568 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. Write them to a log file, or have a details button that can be pressed to get to them. I'm assuming you're talking about showing error messages to users in message boxes or on screen. share|improve this answer edited Oct 11 '08 at 22:05 answered Oct 11 '08 at 20:35 Scott Langham 28.1k2493149 3 Don't overdo the obsequiousness. How does a user check that a file is not already opened by another program? I really hate alert messages that force me to push "OK" when it is anything but OK in my view. –Jonathan Leffler Oct 11 '08 at 20:45 2 You're picking up on my specific example. I think the points I'