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Help and error messages that are clear and in context can assist residents as they go through forms. |
If messages are not clear, they can frustrate residents and cause them to abandon a form altogether.
- Don’t use help text to address shortcomings of a form. Strive to make the form as user-friendly and easy to understand as possible and minimize the amount of help text you even need.
- Avoid having chunky, help paragraphs under each field. This starts to make the form look chaotic. Keep it concise.
- Make sure the help and error message is adjacent to the question it’s referencing so that the resident quickly sees it. Don’t make the user search for the message.
- Make sure the error message appears in real-time. Don’t make the resident have try to go to a new page before they are alerted to an error.
- Make sure the error messages clearly tells the user what the error is and how to resolve it easily.
- Use polite phrasing in error messages. Don’t blame the user by having messages like “illegal action.”
- Use color, icons, and messages to clearly indicate an error has occurred. Just using one can leave the user lost or confused.
