Vitaly Friedman posted a great article on LinkedIn about designing effective error messages. It’s a great resource for anyone in the UI/UX space, and I highly recommend it.

He says, “When we design interfaces, we rarely think about error messages first. But a strategic and thorough design of these messages can be critical for businesses — especially if they struggle with high abandonment. Error messages can make or break the experience in situations when things go south.”

It’s true; how many times have you left a site, app, user interface of any kind due to vague, unclear or frustrating error messages?

Tips for error message design

He provides rules for error message user interfaces that are spot on:

1. Never Rely On Color Alone
2. Never Cover User’s Input
3. In Forms, Display Error Messages Above Input
4. In Tables, Display Error Messages Inline
5. Don’t Rely on Toast Error Messages (“… animated notifications, informing users about change of status of the system with floating messages.”)
6. Allow Users to Override Error Messages

The article, Designing Better Error Messages UX, is excellent.

Read the full article on LinkedIn