Bad error messages

What is a "bad error message?"

Simply put, a bad error message is a dialog box or error that doesn't make sense to anyone but the person who programmed it in the first place. We've all seen them, usually in very frustrating moments when our computer or website is not working properly.

Is this a good error message?

http://www.kevinertell.com/retail-shaken-not-stirred/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/some-sort-of-error.jpg

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_KGY76SN5CQk/THbKvHVHziI/AAAAAAAAAJc/W5i7sJ8tsVY/s1600/Error+Message.jpg

Microsoft MTM

Ubuntu update

Bad verification

Intel IPP installer

SQL server error

Jakob Nielsen good error messages 1/2

• Clearly indicate that something has gone wrong

• Be in a human-readable language• Describe the problem• Give constructive advice on how to fix the

problem• Educate users by providing links to pages with

an explanation of the problem

Jakob Nielsen good error messages 2/2

• Be polite and not blame the users• Be visible and highly noticeable, both in terms of the

message and how it indicates where things went wrong

• Preserve as much of the user's work as possible so that they don't have to do everything over again

• If possible, guess the correct action and let users pick it form a list of fixes

• Educate users by providing links to pages with an explanation of the problem

The 3 basic rules

• Describe What went wrong.• Explain How this error can be avoided.• Provide steps to solve the error or examples

for how the function should be used correctly.

Is this a good error message?

Refferences

• http://www.instructionaldesign.org/bad_error_messages.html

• http://www.retailshakennotstirred.com/retail-shaken-not-stirred/2009/10/conversion-tip-dont-let-bad-error-messages-cost-you-sales.html

• http://technologizer.com/2008/09/18/errormessage/