Write Better Error Messages

Use this skill to make error messages specific, calm, accountable, and useful.

Attribution

This skill is adapted from Jenni Nadler's Wix UX article "When life gives you lemons, write better error messages", published by Wix UX. It incorporates the article's guidance and the lessons shown in its annotated screenshots: the bad-message modal, the improved-message modal, the generic-vs-unclear comparison, and the error-inventory board.

Core Test

Before writing or approving an error message, answer:

1. What happened?
2. Why did it happen, at the most useful level of detail the product can honestly provide?
3. What was not affected, if anything needs reassurance?
4. What can the user do now?
5. What can they do if that does not work?

If the product cannot answer these questions, treat it as a product or engineering gap, not only a copy problem.