Good 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, friendly error messages examples you think, your trusty Mac laptop has software installed that allows you to run error messages ux Windows.You fire up the software, and when Windows politely asks you to update with several intrusive notifications, you say, sure, go error message examples text ahead.And then you see 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, error messages best practices with the Twitter world.Excitedly you 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
Error Message Text
venture capital and hordes of mustache-twirling 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 inclu
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Error Message Text Prank
on my commute home from work when I was deep in the throes of an error message guidelines intense game of Two Dots. I’d been stuck on a level for basically forever and had two clear choices: break down and buy the list of error messages special bonus things that will magically make the level go away, or quit playing the game forever. My Two Dots addiction is pretty severe, so I opted for door number one. It’s not often that I make in-app purchases, https://medium.com/@thomasfuchs/how-to-write-an-error-message-883718173322 so I took this $4.99 purchase seriously. I tapped the “Buy” button and eagerly awaited my bounty. And was met with this: “What the @#%% does that mean?” I blurted a bit too loudly to my fellow train passengers. It was an obnoxiously vague error message and the one thing keeping me from my dream of passing level 357. And it was preventing Two Dots from finally getting me to pay for something. Nobody likes to get an https://www.usertesting.com/blog/2015/09/23/what-happened-how-to-write-a-better-error-message/ error message. And getting one as confusing and unhelpful as this one just adds insult to injury. But things do go wrong, and error messages are necessary—but they don’t have to be evil. In this post I’ll share a few tips on crafting error messages that will help your users, and hopefully keep them from shouting profanities at strangers on the train. 1. Tell me what went wrong When something goes wrong, it’s helpful to know exactly what happened. But if you aren’t explicit about the error, your users are going to have a hard time figuring out how to fix it. Take this error for example: I either goofed my username or password. Well, which is it? Most of us have multiple usernames and passwords floating around out there, so telling me that one or the other (or both!) are incorrect doesn’t help me much. Now I’m forced to run through all the permutations of possible usernames and passwords, until I get lucky and land on the right combination, or get locked out of my account. Not exactly a smooth user experience. If your users encounter an error, the first thing you should do is tell them what triggered the error. In most cases, you’ll know what prompted an error, so don’t make your users guess. Here’s how Mailchimp handles the same problem: 2. Tell me how to fix it Knowi
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