Good point 8^). -- Mosh Teitelbaum evoch, LLC Tel: (301) 942-5378 Fax: (301) 933-3651 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] WWW: http://www.evoch.com/
> -----Original Message----- > From: Barney Boisvert [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Friday, July 11, 2003 1:04 PM > To: CF-Talk > Subject: RE: Usability > > > Point (4) should be that errors are consistent across the application. > Users hate reading errors, so they need to be able to easily parse the > message and extract the 'how to fix' info as easily as possible. > While any > one of these messages meets Mosh's 3 requirements, taken together they > aren't too hot. > > "Please provide a valid phone numer" > "The address you provided isn't valid" > "You must use a valid email address" > > > --- > Barney Boisvert, Senior Development Engineer > AudienceCentral > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > voice : 360.756.8080 x12 > fax : 360.647.5351 > > www.audiencecentral.com > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: Mosh Teitelbaum [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Sent: Friday, July 11, 2003 9:49 AM > > To: CF-Talk > > Subject: RE: Usability > > > > > > Actually, I hadn't meant it as tongue in cheek 8^). > > > > Error messages don't need to be "sexy" or anything, unless you're > > tying them > > into the style of the rest of your site. As an example (and this isn't > > really an error message, but...) Amazon.com recently began letting users > > earn "nickels" of credit by answering questions about Amazon. > Great idea > > for getting users to learn more about Amazon, especially since > > they tend to > > provide a link to where you can find the correct answer. The > problem is, > > the message Amazon shows when you answer a question. Amazon is > > *NOT* a hip > > and edgy site but their answers tend to be along the lines of: > > > > Far Out Dude! > > You're right, Amazon does have 3,645,786 brands of men's underwear. > > > > or > > > > Oh, Bogus! > > You're wrong, ... > > > > I realize Amazon is trying to form a friendlier relationship (I > guess) but > > Amazon doesn't seem to me to be the kind of site that would call > > me "Dude." > > > > Anyway, the point really is that the main purposes of an error > message are > > to (1) inform the user that there is an error, (2) explain what > the error > > is, and (3) explain how to correct the error. The > > not-tongue-in-cheek error > > message I suggested earlier ("Foo must be a valid, non-negative number > > without fractions or decimals.") addresses points 2 & 3. Presumably it > > would begin with something like "One or more errors have been > > found..." etc. > > to address the 1st point. > > > > -- > > Mosh Teitelbaum > > evoch, LLC > > Tel: (301) 942-5378 > > Fax: (301) 933-3651 > > Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > WWW: http://www.evoch.com/ > > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > > > From: Kreig Zimmerman [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > Sent: Friday, July 11, 2003 1:18 AM > > > To: CF-Talk > > > Subject: RE: Usability > > > > > > > > > No man... > > > > > > > > > > > > ...it's because the way I read that other poster, his > > > hyper-correct error message was intended as tongue-in-cheek. > > > > > > > > > > > > Don't get yer knickers in a twist... > > > > > > > > > > > > --- On Thu 07/10, Chunshen (Don) Li < [EMAIL PROTECTED] > wrote: > > > > > > From: Chunshen (Don) Li [mailto: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > > > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > > > > > > > > > >Quod Erat Demonstratum<br>From the "tum" ending of the word, > > > Demonstratum, I know it's Latin, but I don't know > > > Latin.<br><br>Kreig Zimmerman, bastard, insulted me for what, not > > > knowing Latin? > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > No banners. No pop-ups. No kidding. > > > Introducing My Way - http://www.myway.com > > > > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/index.cfm?forumid=4 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/index.cfm?method=subscribe&forumid=4 FAQ: http://www.thenetprofits.co.uk/coldfusion/faq This list and all House of Fusion resources hosted by CFHosting.com. The place for dependable ColdFusion Hosting. http://www.cfhosting.com Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.4
