Polite Error Messages
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Best Error Messages Sonia Chopra GregoryLAST UPDATED June 1, 2015Get more articles like this delivered to your inbox! Follow @FreshSparks Tweet14 Share26 Share4 +14Shares 48So you made a mistake. Or, did the website you were using make a mistake? friendly error messages examples Either way, errors are a big point of frustration for web users-we don’t
Error Messages Best Practices
like them and they can cause us to bounce away from our intended path. Creating great website error messaging is often error message examples text overlooked, but it’s important to ensuring an optimal user experience.Click To TweetHere’s where to start, and what to focus on for the best error messages:1. Be specific to the user's task.When writing error messages, error message text it’s important that your copy is customized to the actual error. It can be confusing when a message doesn’t offer any clarity as to what exactly went wrong. This is especially critical if users are inputting personal data or completing a checkout process (it can cost you a lead, or worse-a sale).A more positive experience is to be told the specific problem, and given a way to correct the issue. Concise
Error Message Guidelines
guidance is necessary to keep users engaged and willing to make the corrections. Notice how Dropbox is very detailed in their error alert for an incorrect email address, by requesting the missing character.2. Let users know you’re human.Oftentimes, error messages can sound very technical to a consumer (read: intimidating). Moreover, some errors place blame on the user. It’s more effective to be understanding, friendly, and speak the same language. A good way to incorporate a more human tone to your error messages, is to think about explaining it out loud to someone. How does it sound when you speak it in conversation?Click To TweetIf someone is less comfortable with technology, an error can be a huge roadblock. Reassure the user that they are not ‘talking to a computer'.Error messages are also a good opportunity to utilize icons-it's just another way to humanize your message (since people respond well to imagery).3. Embrace humor in the situation.Although a user may not want a comedic error message when their credit card number isn’t correct, there are some situations where it might be nice to be funny.Keep it lighthearted, otherwise it may seem like you’re trying to cover up a mistake rather than owning up to it. The message should still be informational, clear, and poli
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500 Error Message Examples
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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 http://ux.stackexchange.com/questions/25500/why-avoid-the-word-please-in-error-messages about Stack Overflow the company Business Learn more about hiring developers or posting http://www.nomensa.com/blog/2010/4-rules-displaying-error-messages-user-experience-perspective 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 error message up and rise to the top Why avoid the word “please” in error messages? [duplicate] up vote 5 down vote favorite 2 Possible Duplicate: Should an interface ever say “please”? According to Windows User Experience Interaction Guidelines (UX Guide) for Windows 7 and Windows Vista: Avoid the word "please," except in situations in which the user is asked to do something inconvenient (such as waiting) or the software is error message examples to blame for the situation. Correct: Please wait while Windows copies the files to your computer. I always use "please" in my error message for it to be polite, like ... please enter a value in the username field. Why do we need to avoid the word "please" for errors like this? Won't adding "please" make the message more polite? error-message emotion share|improve this question edited Sep 7 '12 at 16:09 Ben Brocka♦ 33.6k688163 asked Sep 7 '12 at 7:31 John Isaiah Carmona 8101717 marked as duplicate by AndroidHustle, ChrisF, JonW♦ Sep 7 '12 at 17:49 This question has been asked before and already has an answer. If those answers do not fully address your question, please ask a new question. 1 @AndroidHustle Close, but this question is more specific - and should stay open imho –Benny Skogberg♦ Sep 7 '12 at 8:19 1 @BennySkogberg ok, that's a fair observation, I don't agree though. If you read the question and the approved answer from Jimmy Breck-McKye, that situation is very much transferable to this situation. Meaning that error messages should aid users in completing the task rather than "excusing itself" by saying "Please". Imho the reasoning behind the two questions is totally t
Experience View 21 comments Outline In order to display error messages on forms, you need to consider the following four basic rules: The error message needs to be short and meaningful The placement of the message needs to be associated with the field The message style needs to be separated from the 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 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 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 an unclear error message is on the Hotmail registration page where it asks for user’s ‘Birth year’. I remember using only two digits to represent a year before the year 2000. Well, the form does not give any instruction on that; even the error message does not give a clear idea of what was wrong with entering two digits for my birth year. Figure 1: Hotmail registration page- error message not providing how to put the birth year (e.g. ‘yyyy’) I know I was born in ’81 and I can verify i