Friendly Website Error Messages
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on our websites. And they happen in real life. Sometimes it’s because we made a mistake. Or maybe a system failed. Maybe it really was the user’s fault. Whatever the cause, these errors—and how they
Examples Of Good Error Messages
are communicated—can have a huge impact on the way someone experiences your website or app. error message examples text Often overlooked, an ill-constructed error message can fill users with frustration, and send them packing. A well-crafted error message, on the other hand, can user friendly error messages work wonders. It can turn a moment of frustration (abandonment) into a moment of delight (and ideally, conversion). Every error, regardless of who is to blame, becomes a point of friction for your users. Well-written error messages can help
Error Messages Ux
reduce that friction. As UX designers, we like to reduce friction. So let’s get on with it. Introducing the 4 H’s So how do we write, or rewrite, our error messages to keep our users on track? It’s not that difficult, really. We just need to consider the 4 H’s of writing error messages. Error messages need to be: Human Helpful Humorous Humble Let’s look at these more closely. 1. Human The number one rule is to make
Error Messages Best Practices
sure your error messages sound like they’ve been written for humans. There’s nothing more frustrating than an error like this one. It sounds like it has been written by a robot. For a robot. Put your customer service hat on—think of your error message as a conversation with your user. Make sure it’s polite, understandable, friendly and jargon-free. The Firefox error message is a better example. Think about your audience. How would you explain the error to them, in human speak? Write those words down. That’s your error message, right there. 2. Helpful OK, so your error message is readable. But is it helpful? The rules to crafting helpful error messages are fairly straightforward. Ask yourself: Is it visible? There’s no point displaying an error message if the user doesn’t even see it. Think about the message size, colour and location of your error messages. Make them prominent. Does it explain clearly what went wrong? Your error message needs to explain the problem as clearly as possible. And it needs to be specific. A vague error message that says, “An unexpected system error has occurred” is just lazy programming. It’s of no use to anyone. And most importantly ... Does it help the user recover? What do they need to do next? How can they get back to what they were doing, as fast as possible? 3. Humorous A shor
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, 500 error message examples your trusty Mac laptop has software installed that allows you to run Windows.You fire up
Error Message Text
the software, and when Windows politely asks you to update with several intrusive notifications, you say, sure, go ahead.And then you see best error messages this.Something somethingThat would be 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 http://uxmas.com/2012/the-4-hs-of-writing-error-messages drag the screenshot into the 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 https://medium.com/@thomasfuchs/how-to-write-an-error-message-883718173322 techno-hipsters spending the best years of their youth 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
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 http://www.agconsult.com/en/usability-blog/user-friendly-error-messages-7-tips tipsEls AertsGoogle+0 reactions Why are error messages important? A lot of websites make usability mistakes on their form pages. And that costs visitors. On a form page that's extra painful because if https://www.sitepoint.com/error-message-ux/ 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 error message visitor who fills out a 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 error message examples the translation process. Make sure they aren't 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
Web Dev @ Microsoft SEO By WooRank Books Courses Screencasts Newsletters Versioning Shop Forums Advertise Contribute Contact Us Our Story 995kSubscribers 132kFollowers 80kFollowers Design & UX Article The UX of Error Messages By Byron Houwens December 15, 2014 They glide beneath the waves of the web, silent, ferocious and seemingly just waiting for the opportunity to strike. They come in all shapes, sizes and levels of annoyance, and they almost always attack when you least expect it. Error messages are a part of the digital world and, like it or not, everyone has come across them before, from the technologically-challenged housewife to the hardcore gamer. As developers we likely see them more often than most. They’re inevitable, but the way we present these errors to the user can either have a positive effect (well, as positive as can be expected) or a decidedly negative one. Let’s look at ways that we can approach handling error messages so that they convey meaning and provide a good user experience. Also, I feel it’s important to note that all the examples posted here have beenchosen without bias. I only chose them because they illustrated some point. Prevention is Better Than Cure Before going into handling error messages, it may be good to see how we can prevent the error from happening in the first place by guiding users in the right direction ahead of time. New passwords, for instance, are classic candidates for this method. The tweet above is funny, but it speaks to an issue that in many cases could’ve been avoided completely: letting users know about bad passwords after the fact. See how much attention that tweet got? It’s a sign, industry. A better approach would be to inform the user about what your password validation requirements, or advice on to make a good password, before they hit submit. Better yet, educate them as they type it. The above, an idea by the very awesome Paul Lewis which you can find here, is one such example of live feedback. Here, each tick activates as soon as the password meets the condition, meaning the user never receives annoying error messages. If you’re using data-binding frameworks like AngularJS or EmberJS, this kind of instant feedback isn’t even difficult to implement and goes a long way to good user experience. A He