Thought of the week

Salient Error Messages

Error messages are meant to be read.  They should be positioned close to the source of the error and be distinct.  They may be displayed in a separate pop-up box but this has the disadvantage of requiring the user to close the pop-up so it is better to display them on the same page or window that the error was committed in.  A de facto convention is to show error messages in red text.  This helps make them distinct. 

In the following example the error message is shown in red text but is displayed in an inappropriate position.  Its display results in very little change to the page and is too distant from the course of the error, which is also the part of the page the user is likely to be attending to.