Even though we like to picture ourselves as flawless developers, it’s important to address how our systems will behave when users encounter an error.
I usually break the possible system responses into 3 categories:
1. Bad: The system throws the user out, and potentially deletes the user’s unsaved work.
2. Slightly Better: The system doesn’t throw the user out or lose their work, but brings up a cryptic message in programmer-ese that just confuses the user.
3. Best: The system brings up an error message that’s understandable and informative, and also provides advice on how to avoid or fix the error.
If you hadn’t already guessed, I recommend the third option. However, this is also the most difficult to properly configure, because each system error must be linked to a plain-English explanation.
Emily Wilksa, a former technical writer for Microsoft, has written a helpful article on writing effective error messages. Click here to read it: http://www.writersua.com/articles/message/index.html
-Judi
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