Target audience for this courseWhy take this course?Learning objectivesLearning non-objectivesThis course in ten seconds
Target audience for this course
This course is aimed at the following audiences:
- Engineers
- Program managers
- Technical writers
Why take this course?
The following data elucidates the importance of Good error messages:
Data collected through Google support systems and UX research identified the following common problems with bad error messages:
- unactionable
- vague
- imprecise
- confusing
- inaccurate
- unclear cause
- unknown next steps
Conversely, good error messages provide the following benefits:
- Deliver the best user experience.
- Are actionable.
- Are universally accessible. (To learn more, take Tech Writing for Accessibility.)
- Enable users to help themselves.
- Reduce the support workload.
- Enable faster resolution of issues.
Learning objectives
After completing this class, you will know how to do the following:
- Write clearer, more helpful error messages.
- Review your teammates' error messages.
Learning non-objectives
This course does not explain the mechanics of generating error messages. For example, this course does not explain how to display error messages within a GUI.
This course in ten seconds
Great error messages answer two questions as clearly and concisely as possible:
- What went wrong?
- How does the user fix that problem?
Yes, it's just that simple.
And, it's just that hard.
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