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Relatedly, what's the value of an error message apologising ? Should the message be connected to a human feeling the "sorry" emotion ? Personally I prefer less

by zimbatm 14y ago

Relatedly, what's the value of an error message apologising ? Should the message be connected to a human feeling the "sorry" emotion ? Personally I prefer less dramatic and to the point tone. At least it's not fake: "Hey, this feature is locked down and not accessible by everyone. Have a chat with your administrator if you want it to be unlocked."

politician 14y ago
Why is the feature accessible through the UI by users which don't have access to it?
- zimbatm 14y ago
  Good thinking. I can imagine a scenario where you want the users to be aware of the feature and have the administrator act as a filter gateway. Another scenario is when your application structure is too rigid and hiding the feature would cost much more than adding an error message.
- ams6110 14y ago
  It's a trade off. It may be something the user expects to be able to do, but for whatever reason doesn't have permission. In that case it's better to say "You don't have permission to do 'foo', please contact your administrator if this is incorrect." (no need for "Sorry..." either, IMO). Then they know what's going on, instead of just wondering "Where the hell is the 'foo' button..." Or maybe they can use the feature in some situations but not others. For example they can edit some records but only view others. In the second case, having a visible but inoperative "Save" button may be a better user experience than the save button being completely hidden.
dragonwriter 14y ago
Particularly in the case of an application that interacts with users external to the entity/organization that "owns" the app, you can look at communication between the app and the user as communication between the application's owner and the user that has been automated: if you had a live person representing the company and a client asked for something policy didn't allow you to provide them, the usual practice and common courtesy would be to initially respond with something along the lines of "I'm sorry, I can't provide that information to you." The fact that the communication comes through a computer system shouldn't change the message the company wants to convey.

by zimbatm 14y ago

politician 14y ago

Why is the feature accessible through the UI by users which don't have access to it?

zimbatm 14y ago
Good thinking. I can imagine a scenario where you want the users to be aware of the feature and have the administrator act as a filter gateway. Another scenario is when your application structure is too rigid and hiding the feature would cost much more than adding an error message.
ams6110 14y ago
It's a trade off. It may be something the user expects to be able to do, but for whatever reason doesn't have permission. In that case it's better to say "You don't have permission to do 'foo', please contact your administrator if this is incorrect." (no need for "Sorry..." either, IMO). Then they know what's going on, instead of just wondering "Where the hell is the 'foo' button..." Or maybe they can use the feature in some situations but not others. For example they can edit some records but only view others. In the second case, having a visible but inoperative "Save" button may be a better user experience than the save button being completely hidden.

dragonwriter 14y ago

Particularly in the case of an application that interacts with users external to the entity/organization that "owns" the app, you can look at communication between the app and the user as communication between the application's owner and the user that has been automated: if you had a live person representing the company and a client asked for something policy didn't allow you to provide them, the usual practice and common courtesy would be to initially respond with something along the lines of "I'm sorry, I can't provide that information to you." The fact that the communication comes through a computer system shouldn't change the message the company wants to convey.