The document discusses effective messaging in user interfaces, emphasizing the importance of clarity and user understanding. It suggests that messages should communicate what happened, why it happened, and what users can do about it, while advocating for the minimization of unnecessary messages. It highlights various examples of ineffective messages and practical fixes to improve user experience.

1. To message or Not to message
4-6 June 2014
http://www.uxsofia.com/en
@dsimov

2. Talk about messages
Good, bad, or necessary evil
No recipe – be practical
Our goal today

3. I do not like to write
messages

4. WHAT’S IN A MESSAGE?

5. warning
prohibitory
mandatory
priority
indication
Sign
source of UI icons: http://www.iconarchive.com/show/soft-scraps-icons-by-hopstarter.html

6. 0. Who shows the message
1. What happened (or did not happen)
2. Why it happened
3. What users can do about it
Text
often
usually
sometimes
rarely

7. Traditionally a button
Closing

8. WHAT ARE MESSAGES?

9. I do not want them to
upload the contacts
from the address book
on my phone, so I
cleared the checkbox
Then on Sign In…
Install Twitter app on my mobile

10. … I get this
Now they speak of friends
no idea what they
mean!?!
And I do not know any of
the 48 people they want
me to follow
…from Twitter

11. I get this every time I start Windows
Warning
fix: Do not show
OR: Show more info so users know why this is important and
what to do

12. I get this every time I start Windows as well
Critical
fix: Show option to remove from start-up list
OR: Allow re-installing

13. Is it that hard to ignore the spaces?
Validation
fix: Parse the input and ignore spaces, dashes, dots…

14. Translation:
Your electronic signature
is valid and you can make
money transfers online
Confirmation
fix: Hide the gibberish. Show
a normal message.

15. Informative
fix: State that the downtime will be at night and last only 1
hour and use my timezone

16. As you type
fix: Accept Cyrillic
OR: Add to the message that only Latin characters are OK

17. On Yes, the program starts
On No, the program does not start
Guess what
fix: Do not show
OR: Ask users to select a library location

18. Glad I did not encounter the previous three
Numbered
fix: Say what happened, why, and what users need/can do

19. Access is blocked! Reason: #34!
Please call the Eurobank officer who serves you.
Another time
fix: Fix the site to work 24/7
OR: Tell users to log in only in business hours

20. Another place
fix: ?!?!
OR: Link to a travel site so users can book a ticket to USA

21. what!?
Make me think a lot
fix: Simplify and state the acceptable range

22. Now I’m lost
Make me stop thinking
fix: No idea

23. Series of increasing severity
Unusual error… not enough storage
Unusual error… no scroll bars
Unusual error… catastrophic failure
fix: Fix the code

24. Not available… Not accessible… or Access denied?
Schizophrenic
fix: See the next slide

25. Why not this instead
You may have no permissions to view the
content of the folder, or it may be located
on a computer with which you do not have
a connection. Check your connection and
try again or contact your administrator for
permissions.

26. Useless
fix: Show the list of external references

27. Unnecessary
fix: Do not show

28. In progress
fix: No fix needed

29. In progress
fix: Use a normal progress indicator - see how the others do it

30. Predictive
fix: No fix needed

31. Preventive
fix: No fix needed
OR: Avoid the popup – see the next slide

32. 2014: jetBlue eliminated the popup

33. …the message now obscures the input
fix: Make the message non-modal
OR: Make the user input visible

34. CAPS LOCK IS ON

35. We sometimes need to type in all caps
Caps Lock is a mode, we often do not notice it is ON
The Caps Lock key is too easy to hit, next to Shift
When we type passwords, we don’t see what we type
CAPS LOCK
fix: I leave it to you to design one or two

36. DO AND DON’T

37. especially modal ones
Reconsider the limitations:
why limit the password to 12 characters
Parse the user input:
both 14/05/12 and 2014-05-14 mean 12 May 2014
Change the UI:
a calendar picker might work well for entering dates
Try to avoid messages

38. Save the technical details:
most users do not care how the program works
example: Search results found but will not be
shown in the current mode. Users are to do the
search again on another screen.
Try to avoid messages - 2

39. Show a modal message only if you:
 have no idea what else to do
 have no time to do a better thing
 feel it makes business sense
 know it will never show up to users
Use modal messages as a last resort

40. Any internal message
that is not supposed to be seen by users
finds a way to float to the surface and
shows up to users
Jimmy’s axiom on messages

41. Coordinate text and closing

42. We want to do work (have fun, find information) not
read messages
Yet we do not want to guess what is going on
Keep messages short, yet complete

43. You have only view permissions
is better than
You do not have edit permissions
Frame messages positively

44. and before you write “oops“
Think twice before you try fun

45. Have a reviewer
Better a colleague to find your splling mistakes
Work with a writer
These people are trained to write words and
sentences
Test with users
Ask for help

46. 1. Try to avoid messages
 don’t write messages, design interactions
2. If you have to give a message, make sure it says:
 what happened
 why
 what users can do about it
3. Be practical
Take home

47. BONUS

48. The best message
source: http://tangra.si.umich.edu/~radev/public/onlybg2/Only_In_Bulgaria_08.jpg
FISHING
PERMITTED
CARP
1 KG – 3 LV

49. Non-ambiguous
Language familiar to target users
No excessive info; just the necessary
Substantial information - price
Gives direction
Large font – can be read from a moving car
Unobtrusive
The best message - ever

50. YOU ARE WELCOME