error-message-brainstorming - Revision history

AndyMabbett: /* Brainstorming examples */ accessibility-issues#abbr-design-pattern

2007-06-28T17:15:23Z

Brainstorming examples: accessibility-issues#abbr-design-pattern

← Older revision		Revision as of 17:15, 28 June 2007
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	<div class="error"><abbr title="E3316">Login failed. User name and password not found.</abbr></div>		<div class="error"><abbr title="E3316">Login failed. User name and password not found.</abbr></div>
	</nowiki></pre>		</nowiki></pre>

			*Please see [[accessibility-issues#abbr-design-pattern]]. [[User:AndyMabbett\|Andy Mabbett]] 10:15, 28 Jun 2007 (PDT)

	An error with some options for correcting the situation:		An error with some options for correcting the situation:

Evan: some brainstorming examples

2007-06-28T15:38:16Z

some brainstorming examples

@@ Line 15: / Line 15: @@
 * Text describing the error situation.
 * Instructions for workarounds or correcting user behavior. Possible implementations are an unordered list ("Try this, OR that, OR the other") and an ordered list ("Step one: do this. Step two: do that. Step three: do the other."). They could also be mixed in a hierarchical way. (Note: idea comes from Paypal, which uses an unordered list.)
 ==See also==
 *[[error-message-examples]]

AndyMabbett: fmt

2007-06-27T09:22:11Z

fmt

← Older revision		Revision as of 09:22, 27 June 2007
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	<h1>Error Message Brainstorming</h1>		<h1>Error Message Brainstorming</h1>

	~~See also: [[error-message-examples]]~~

	Typical Web applications emit text messages to inform the user of error situations -- either user errors ("Invalid user name or password", "Failed to enter required fields") or system errors ("can't connect to database server", "Call to member function 'foo' on null object.").		Typical Web applications emit text messages to inform the user of error situations -- either user errors ("Invalid user name or password", "Failed to enter required fields") or system errors ("can't connect to database server", "Call to member function 'foo' on null object.").
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	* Text describing the error situation.		* Text describing the error situation.
	* Instructions for workarounds or correcting user behavior. Possible implementations are an unordered list ("Try this, OR that, OR the other") and an ordered list ("Step one: do this. Step two: do that. Step three: do the other."). They could also be mixed in a hierarchical way. (Note: idea comes from Paypal, which uses an unordered list.)		* Instructions for workarounds or correcting user behavior. Possible implementations are an unordered list ("Try this, OR that, OR the other") and an ordered list ("Step one: do this. Step two: do that. Step three: do the other."). They could also be mixed in a hierarchical way. (Note: idea comes from Paypal, which uses an unordered list.)

			==See also==
			*[[error-message-examples]]

Evan: link to examples

2007-06-27T02:28:44Z

link to examples

← Older revision		Revision as of 02:28, 27 June 2007
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	<h1>Error Message Brainstorming</h1>		<h1>Error Message Brainstorming</h1>

			See also: [[error-message-examples]]

	Typical Web applications emit text messages to inform the user of error situations -- either user errors ("Invalid user name or password", "Failed to enter required fields") or system errors ("can't connect to database server", "Call to member function 'foo' on null object.").		Typical Web applications emit text messages to inform the user of error situations -- either user errors ("Invalid user name or password", "Failed to enter required fields") or system errors ("can't connect to database server", "Call to member function 'foo' on null object.").

Evan: A couple of easy steps

2007-06-25T12:26:39Z

A couple of easy steps

← Older revision		Revision as of 12:26, 25 June 2007
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	* A class that marks an element as being an error message. "error", "errormsg" and similar names are used already in [[error-message-examples\|examples]].		* A class that marks an element as being an error message. "error", "errormsg" and similar names are used already in [[error-message-examples\|examples]].
	* An error ID or number. Many systems have unique identifiers for errors, but don't share them with users (for whom they'd be mostly meaningless). This may be a potential use of the [[abbr-design-pattern]], like <nowiki><abbr class="error" title="E5405">Database index error.</abbr></nowiki>".		* An error ID or number. Many systems have unique identifiers for errors, but don't share them with users (for whom they'd be mostly meaningless). This may be a potential use of the [[abbr-design-pattern]], like <nowiki><abbr class="error" title="E5405">Database index error.</abbr></nowiki>".
	* Instructions for workarounds or correcting user behavior. Possible implementations are an unordered list ("Try this, OR that, OR the other") and an ordered list ("Step one: do this. Step two: do that. Step three: do the other."). Paypal uses an unordered list.		* Text describing the error situation.
			* Instructions for workarounds or correcting user behavior. Possible implementations are an unordered list ("Try this, OR that, OR the other") and an ordered list ("Step one: do this. Step two: do that. Step three: do the other."). They could also be mixed in a hierarchical way. (Note: idea comes from Paypal, which uses an unordered list.)

Evan: Brainstorming kickoff

2007-06-25T12:24:34Z

Brainstorming kickoff

New page

<h1>Error Message Brainstorming</h1>

Typical Web applications emit text messages to inform the user of error situations -- either user errors ("Invalid user name or password", "Failed to enter required fields") or system errors ("can't connect to database server", "Call to member function 'foo' on null object.").

There are a number of use-cases for having a standardized, machine-readable format for HTML error messages.

* Automated bug-reporting tools
* Enhanced technical support requests -- a client tool could store recent error messages and transmit them to the support technician
* Workaround-lookups ("What do I do now?") -- a client tool could automatically search company or external knowledge bases for fixes or workarounds for a given error

== Some potential fields ==

* A class that marks an element as being an error message. "error", "errormsg" and similar names are used already in [[error-message-examples|examples]].
* An error ID or number. Many systems have unique identifiers for errors, but don't share them with users (for whom they'd be mostly meaningless). This may be a potential use of the [[abbr-design-pattern]], like <nowiki><abbr class="error" title="E5405">Database index error.</abbr></nowiki>".
* Instructions for workarounds or correcting user behavior. Possible implementations are an unordered list ("Try this, OR that, OR the other") and an ordered list ("Step one: do this. Step two: do that. Step three: do the other."). Paypal uses an unordered list.