An error message is the information displayed when an unforeseen problem occurs, usually on a computer or other device. Modern operating systems with graphical user interfaces, often display error messages using dialog boxes. Error messages are used when user intervention is required, to indicate that a desired operation has failed, or to relay important warnings (such as warning a computer user that they are almost out of hard disk space). Error messages are seen widely throughout computing, and are part of every operating system or computer hardware device. The proper design of error messages is an important topic in usability and other fields of human–computer interaction.[1]
? - the will infamously reply with a single question mark for nearly all error conditions.
ed text editor
- A notoriously confusing error message seen in MS-DOS
An example of an Error message .vbs script
Abort, Retry, Fail?
- Another notoriously common and confusing error message seen in MS-DOS
Bad command or file name
The - On Microsoft Windows and ReactOS operating systems, this screen appears when Windows or ReactOS can no longer run because of a severe error.[2] It is roughly analogous to a kernel panic on Linux, Unix, or macOS.
Blue Screen of Death
- an error message from AcornDFS. DFS stores files in non-fragmented contiguous disk space, this error is caused when trying to extend an open random-access file into space that is already occupied by another file.
Can't extend
- an error message from the Amiga, roughly analogous to a kernel panic or BSOD, also adopted by more recent products such as VirtualBox.
Guru Meditation
- A file not found error seen on the World Wide Web, usually resulting from a link to a page that has been moved or deleted, or a mistyped URL
HTTP 404
- A Unix warning that the printer may be "on fire", literally or not
lp0 on fire
- A Unix error message that is confusing due to its now obsolete use of the word "typewriter", and which is sometimes output when the nature of the error is seemingly entirely different
Not a typewriter
- An error on several HP laser printers that simply asked the user to add "Letter" size paper in a confusing way[3]
PC LOAD LETTER
- Seen on many computer systems when the received instructions are in a format they don't understand
SYNTAX ERROR
- An error found on the World Wide Web stating that a gateway timeout occurred in the internet link.
HTTP 504
Error 1603 - An error that states that a problem during installation of a , this error particularly occurs on Windows computer systems.
computer program
<application name> has stopped - An error message commonly found on devices, which states a current running application unexpectedly stops working or crashes.
Android
Success - one of the error messages (in this instance, ) that occurs when the program has detected an error condition, yet the actual error message printing routine relies on C library to print the error reported by the operating system (in this case, errno.h), while the underlying system calls have succeeded and report no errors (in this case, errno == 0). This is a form of sloppy error handling that is particularly confusing for the user.
POSIX
[Connection Time Out Error Mac] - Error occurs on Mac systems when it takes more time to connect wireless networks.
: Moon Shark (March 3, 2013)
Ars Technica
on Facebook: Sad cow.
FarmVille
: Octocat
GitHub
: Broken robot (March 2, 2011)
Google
: Cloud with Apple System 7 emoticon-style face and a magnifying glass
With the rise of Web 2.0 services such as Twitter, end-user facing error messages such as HTTP 404 and HTTP 500 started to be displayed with whimsical characters, termed Fail Pets or Error Mascots. The term "Fail Pet" was coined, or at least first used in print, by Mozilla Engineer Fred Wenzel in a post on his blog entitled "Why Wikipedia might need a fail-pet — and why Mozilla does not."[4] Dr. Sean Rintel argues that error messages are a critical strategic moment in brand awareness and loyalty. Fail pets are of interest to marketers because they can result in brand recognition (especially through earned media). "However, that same recognition carries the danger of highlighting service failure."[5] The most famous fail pet is Twitter's Fail Whale (see Twitter service outages). Other fail pets include:
A dialog box, or pop-up message, appears in a window on the screen, blocking further interaction with the computer until it is acknowledged. On Mac OS X, sheets are a form of dialog box that are attached to a specific window.
Notification icons appear to notify a user about a condition without interrupting their work. On Windows, notification icons appear in the System Tray. On Mac OS X, notification icons may appear in the menu bar, or may take the form of an application's icon "bouncing" in the Dock. The user interface for Unix systems can display notification icons in a panel.
GNOME
Minor errors may be displayed in a status bar, a small portion of an application's window that can display brief messages to the user.
Alert dialog box
Human–computer interaction
Interaction design
Usability
User error
User interface design
Exception handling
Medium error
A more useful 404 (A List Apart)
Avoid being embarrassed by your error messages (UX Matters)
