Nielsen Error Message Guidelines
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Navigation Non-Profit Websites Personas Persuasive Design Prototyping Psychology and UX Research Methods Search Social Media Strategy User Testing Visual Design Web Usability Writing for the Web Young Users Author Jakob Nielsen Don Norman Bruce "Tog" Tognazzini See all authors… All Authors (hide) Aurora Bedford Raluca Budiu Susan Farrell Therese Fessenden Kim Flaherty Sarah Gibbons Page Laubheimer Angie Li Hoa Loranger Kate Meyer good error message text Jakob Nielsen Don Norman Kara Pernice Christian Rohrer Amy Schade Katie Sherwin Bruce "Tog" Tognazzini Kathryn Whitenton Kate Williamson Recent Articles Journey Mapping in Real Life: A Survey of UX Practitioners Consistency in the Omnichannel Experience Scan and Shake: A Lesson in Technology Adoption from China’s WeChat Frequency & Recency of Site Visits: 2 Metrics for User Engagement International B2B Audiences: Top 5 Ways to Improve Your Site for Global Users See all articles… Popular Articles Usability 101: Introduction to Usability Top 10 Mistakes in Web Design How Users Read on the Web F-Shaped Pattern For Reading Web Content 10 Usability Heuristics for User Interface Design 10 Best Intranets of 2016 When to Use Which User-Experience Research Methods Response Times: The 3 Important Limits Why You Only Need to Test with 5 Users The Fold Manifesto: Why the Page Fold Still Matters Indicators, Validations, and Notifications: Pick the Correct Communication Option by Kim Flaherty on July 26, 2015 Topics: Application Design Summary: Status feedback is crucial to the success of any system. Knowing when to use 3 common communication methods is key 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 a error message of Error Messages By Byron Houwens December 15, 2014 They glide beneath the waves of
Great Error Messages
the web, silent, ferocious and seemingly just waiting for the opportunity to strike. They come in all shapes, sizes and levels of
Mobile Error Messages
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 https://www.nngroup.com/articles/indicators-validations-notifications/ 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 https://www.sitepoint.com/error-message-ux/ 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 Helping Hand When the inevitable happens, though, it’
Studio 2015 products Visual Studio Team Services Visual Studio Code Visual Studio Dev Essentials Office Office Word/Excel/PowerPoint Microsoft https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/ms679325(v=vs.85).aspx Graph Outlook OneDrive/Sharepoint Skype Services Store Cortana Bing Application Insights http://ux.stackexchange.com/questions/3478/what-are-the-best-guidelines-for-grammar-and-punctuation-in-alerts-and-user-mess Languages & platforms Xamarin ASP.NET C++ TypeScript .NET - VB, C#, F# Server Windows Server SQL Server BizTalk Server SharePoint Dynamics Programs & communities Students Startups Forums MSDN Subscriber downloads Sign in Search Microsoft Search Windows Dev Center Windows Dev Center error message Explore Why Windows What’s new for Windows 10 Intro to Universal Windows Platform Dev Center Benefits Develop for accessibility Build for enterprise Docs Windows apps Get started Design and UI Develop API reference Publish Monetize Promote Games Get started UI design Develop Publish Desktop Get started Design Develop API reference Test and nielsen error message deploy Compatibility Windows IoT Microsoft Edge Windows Holographic Downloads Samples Support Dashboard Explore Why Windows What’s new for Windows 10 Intro to Universal Windows Platform Dev Center Benefits Develop for accessibility Build for enterprise Docs Windows apps Get started Design and UI Develop API reference Publish Monetize Promote Games Get started UI design Develop Publish Desktop Get started Design Develop API reference Test and deploy Compatibility Windows IoT Microsoft Edge Windows Holographic Downloads Samples Support Dashboard Debugging and Error Handling Error Handling About Error Handling About Error Handling Error Message Guidelines Error Message Guidelines Error Message Guidelines Error Mode Last-Error Code Notifying the User Message Tables Fatal Application Exit Error Message Guidelines TOC Collapse the table of content Expand the table of content This documentation is archived and is not being maintained. This documentation is archived and is not being maintained. Error Message Guidelines An error message is text that is displaye
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 Learn more about hiring developers or posting ads with us User Experience Questions Tags Users Badges Unanswered Ask Question _ User Experience Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for user experience researchers and experts. Join them; 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 are the best guidelines for grammar and punctuation in alerts and user messages? up vote 4 down vote favorite 3 I know that button titles shouldn't just be "Okay", "Yes" or "No", but be the name of the specific action the button will perform. What about the message itself? For example, I display this modal alert to the user: " is missing content that it needs to run" with a button that says "Update Content" Should it be titlecase? Should it have a period at the end? How pithy should the message be? I personally dislike long dialogs, but is this best for the end user? grammar share|improve this question asked Feb 10 '11 at 19:37 codecaffeine 1234 add a comment| 3 Answers 3 active oldest votes up vote 1 down vote accepted Let me recommend you to take a look at the book "Language and Communication: Essential Concepts for User Interface and Documentation Design" in case you have some time to deep into the problem at hand. The following two links are lighter reading. They should be what you are looking for and come with examples. (Although they are from Microsoft, I'm sure you can apply them to other environments.) Messages: UI Text Guidelines Error Message Guidelines (W