When there's a validation error, use an error message to explain what went wrong and how to fix it

UXmas is a digital advent calendar for user experience designers. Every day throughout December in the lead-up to Christmas, a bauble is opened to reveal a new gift to the UX community.

Imagine being in an office. In your cubicle. You’ve worked long hours this week for an upcoming product introduction. You’re tired and…

Established wisdom holds that good error messages are polite, precise, and constructive. The Web brings a few new guidelines: Make error messages clearly visible, reduce the work required to fix the problem, and educate users along the way.