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> Even in today’s world of user-centered design, technical jargon still sneaks its way into error messages. You couldn’t fetch my data? My credentials were deni

by donatj 4y ago

> Even in today’s world of user-centered design, technical jargon still sneaks its way into error messages. You couldn’t fetch my data? My credentials were denied? What? The technical stuff is not important to the user This is the opposite of what I want. Stop condescending and just tell me what actually went wrong.

jaywalk 4y ago
It all depends on the context. If it's a web application that can't connect to some backend service, for example, what exactly are you going to do with that information?
- lupire 4y ago
  I'm going to web search it and find advice from other users or devs. Maybe I need to use my email address instead of username, or delete my cookies, or something. If it's proprietary locked down user-hostile junk, then yeah, all I want in the error message is a statement of a refund on my payment, and a link to a competitor website.
- aeonik 4y ago
  Depends on why it didn't connect, right? Was it a timeout? Maybe an HTTP 401 Was it a DNS failure Was there a TCP reset immediately? Each one has a miriad of troubleshooting steps associated with it. Some could be local to the host, some could be network/firewall some could be from the remote host or behind that.
taink 4y ago
I think the point they are making here is that clearly stating what went wrong doesn't necessitate using "technical jargon". Now, "your credentials have been denied" seems pretty clear and does not use jargon in my opinion, but telling the user "the ajax request failed, returning a 403 http error code" seems unhelpful and doesn't tell them what happened.
- InCityDreams 4y ago
  ...then they clearly didn't make their point at all. Big error (in communication) on their part. Your single (2nd) sentence communicates everything required.
- bornfreddy 4y ago
  Even in your example there's a world of difference. "Your credentials have been denied" implies a problem with credentials, while 403 clearly states that the credentials are valid, they are just denied access to this resource. I know it is a made up example, but it does show the problem with "dumbing down" the error messages. Details matter.
lucumo 4y ago
I have this issue with Google Family Link, where I want to add my child's voice to a Nest Audio. The app straight up tells me that I'm not connected to the wifi, which is clearly not true. Furthermore, the app knows I'm connected because in the logging you can see it finding the Nest Audio. It's impossible to figure out what goes wrong. Plenty of people have the same problem, but Google only has this forum where superusers assume everybody else is either lying or an idiot. Meanwhile, they take such error messages at face value, despite many people saying they have wifi. All that to say that I'd rather have an overly technical error that actually tells me what's wrong, instead of a friendly error message that's straight up wrong.
deathanatos 4y ago
This; particularly because more and more, "support" seemingly has no means to access logs, no ability to do the debugging, and no way to escalate obvious bugs in the application to the developers. I need the technical jargon to do support's — and the company whose product I'm using's — job for them. Is it not helpful to laypeople? Perhaps not, but it is what the technical friend they're going to drag into the problem needs.
artogahr 4y ago
I don't understand why they wouldn't have a dropdown below the error that would reveal the technical jargon.
- Too 4y ago
  They do. Press F12 ;)
gpderetta 4y ago
How many times I had to strace an application because the fucking error message didn't give enough information!!
pwinnski 4y ago
Error messages should definitely be written with a target audience in mind. For Wix, a blogging platform, the target audience is usually decidedly non-technical. For many of the tools I use, more technical detail would be welcome. Then again, my parents are unlikely to use the same tools, while they might use Wix.
josefresco 4y ago
> Stop condescending Wix is mostly a platform for non-techie DIY website builders. I can't imagine they'd know what to do with a highly technical error.
deleted 4y ago
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by donatj 4y ago

jaywalk 4y ago

It all depends on the context. If it's a web application that can't connect to some backend service, for example, what exactly are you going to do with that information?

lupire 4y ago
I'm going to web search it and find advice from other users or devs. Maybe I need to use my email address instead of username, or delete my cookies, or something. If it's proprietary locked down user-hostile junk, then yeah, all I want in the error message is a statement of a refund on my payment, and a link to a competitor website.
aeonik 4y ago
Depends on why it didn't connect, right? Was it a timeout? Maybe an HTTP 401 Was it a DNS failure Was there a TCP reset immediately? Each one has a miriad of troubleshooting steps associated with it. Some could be local to the host, some could be network/firewall some could be from the remote host or behind that.

taink 4y ago

I think the point they are making here is that clearly stating what went wrong doesn't necessitate using "technical jargon". Now, "your credentials have been denied" seems pretty clear and does not use jargon in my opinion, but telling the user "the ajax request failed, returning a 403 http error code" seems unhelpful and doesn't tell them what happened.

InCityDreams 4y ago
...then they clearly didn't make their point at all. Big error (in communication) on their part. Your single (2nd) sentence communicates everything required.
bornfreddy 4y ago
Even in your example there's a world of difference. "Your credentials have been denied" implies a problem with credentials, while 403 clearly states that the credentials are valid, they are just denied access to this resource. I know it is a made up example, but it does show the problem with "dumbing down" the error messages. Details matter.

lucumo 4y ago

I have this issue with Google Family Link, where I want to add my child's voice to a Nest Audio. The app straight up tells me that I'm not connected to the wifi, which is clearly not true. Furthermore, the app knows I'm connected because in the logging you can see it finding the Nest Audio. It's impossible to figure out what goes wrong. Plenty of people have the same problem, but Google only has this forum where superusers assume everybody else is either lying or an idiot. Meanwhile, they take such error messages at face value, despite many people saying they have wifi. All that to say that I'd rather have an overly technical error that actually tells me what's wrong, instead of a friendly error message that's straight up wrong.

deathanatos 4y ago

This; particularly because more and more, "support" seemingly has no means to access logs, no ability to do the debugging, and no way to escalate obvious bugs in the application to the developers. I need the technical jargon to do support's — and the company whose product I'm using's — job for them. Is it not helpful to laypeople? Perhaps not, but it is what the technical friend they're going to drag into the problem needs.

artogahr 4y ago

I don't understand why they wouldn't have a dropdown below the error that would reveal the technical jargon.

Too 4y ago
They do. Press F12 ;)

gpderetta 4y ago

How many times I had to strace an application because the fucking error message didn't give enough information!!

pwinnski 4y ago

Error messages should definitely be written with a target audience in mind. For Wix, a blogging platform, the target audience is usually decidedly non-technical. For many of the tools I use, more technical detail would be welcome. Then again, my parents are unlikely to use the same tools, while they might use Wix.

josefresco 4y ago

> Stop condescending Wix is mostly a platform for non-techie DIY website builders. I can't imagine they'd know what to do with a highly technical error.

deleted 4y ago

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