How to Design Better Web3 Error Messages

<h1>UX writing can have an outsize impact on your product</h1> There’s an adage that ‘design is 90% text’ — I’ve seen it attributed to various people in various forms, so I’m not going to pretend to know who said it first. It’s a bold statement, but it points to the fact that most of what your user sees, interprets, and acts on is going to be text. They scan for key words, they follow instructions, they find buttons, and they stare baffled at error messages. If you get your copy right — and display it at the right size, in the right layout — you increase the usability of your product by a massive amount. Error messages are particularly important because they’re literally the thin line(s of text) separating users from non-users. If the user can’t overcome the error, they can’t use your app. The excellent book Microcopy: The Compete Guide explains: <blockquote> An error message temporarily stops the process the users are trying to complete. As far as they are concerned, the message delays them and requires them to understand what went wrong and how they should continue. Since their motivation is already fragile, error messages could be the last straw, leading them to abandon the process, especially if messages are unclear, intimidating or make them feel bad. </blockquote> – Kinneret Yifrah, Microcopy: The Complete Guide [emphasis my own] <a href="https://medium.com/@JonCrabb/how-to-design-better-web3-error-messages-bd96e12fa582">Website</a>