There are error messages in custom tools. We all know that. I build custom project management tools, operational tools, work management tools, and all of that. Now, when building these, most of the time you’re going to encounter errors. A lot of the time, we do not have complete control over the kind of errors that are shown, especially if we have different layers. We have a backend, we have something in the middle, and we have the frontend. At times, our backend is Airtable, although that’s slowly changing as some of the no-code tools are moving toward having their own databases. But that’s beside the point.
With error messages, if something wasn’t entered correctly, or the right tables aren’t loaded, or the linked fields have an issue, you’re going to have a hard time submitting forms, creating new records, or carrying out certain actions. Thankfully, things have improved. It’s a lot better than it was. Back then, you couldn’t easily tell which table, record, or field was causing the problem. Now it’s much more visible where those issues are coming from. With error messages, you have to display them clearly. If there are no records, or someone filters something and nothing is found when they expected a result, you need to give them somewhere to go next. You have to redirect them to find help or understand the problem.
Now, if it’s an internal team, where a few people have access to the backend or the database, you can redirect them there so they know where to make corrections. If it’s an external application with visitors or paying clients, you don’t want them to worry or get worked up about the issue. Instead, you should redirect them to where they can get help. That could be a support widget or a messaging area where they can quickly send you a message. At every step of your application, every step of your website, you have to plan. Understand what is going through the user’s mind. Walk yourself through every step, every flow, every journey, everything they’re going to experience, and ask yourself whether it’s easy enough for them to navigate. Is it useful enough? How is someone who has never interacted with tools like this before going to use it? Is the messaging clear enough? Do they know what to do?
Now, if it’s an internal team, you want to teach it, you want to show it, and you want to reinforce it until they become familiar with it. A lot of the things that I build are simple enough that someone can come in and know exactly what to do. They don’t have to input a lot because we take away the guesswork. We remove as much manual input as possible. If someone is already logged in, you should be able to retrieve identifying information about them without making them fill it in every single time. No, no, no.