Talk to your reader, even especially when you make a mistake

How many times have you seen an error message and actually understood what is going on?

'Error 6214, server supercalifragilisticexpialidocious database restart, please report this 6214 error to rumplestiltskin immediately'

Was that my fault, did I click on something I shouldn't have? Is it their fault, what is going on, I feel scared, I'm off to the BBC site where I feel much happier because they TELL me what is going on, and what's more I understand what they are saying to me!'.

Game over, they've gone. The article linked in the title of this post is from Jakob Nielsen's Useit.com site. It is 5 years old but still totally relevant. He also links to another article of his, Improving the Dreaded 404 Error Message, which is great advice because if something does go wrong then you really need to avoid losing people by telling them:

• What happened (in plain language)
• Constructive steps to take to correct the problem.