Web 2.0 Error messages

Now anything web 2.0 is Buzzzz, even the error messages, well Thomas Fuchs the man behind script.aculo.us started a nice little collection of Web 1.X and 2.0 Error Messages.
Some of the early entries include Flickr, Apple, arte, Campfire, fluxiom, Campaign Monitor, Windows Live and StikiPad. If you are thinking so what about it? Please take a moment and look at the error messages. Some are witty, some precise to the point, some polite, and some examples make examples of bad error messages. Point in case this will serve as a good point to start thinking about those often ignored “Error Messages”.

It’s not enough to inform users when something goes wrong but what’s equally important is to help them get back to what they were doing or at least provide alternatives. The book Defensive Design for the Web by 37Signals gives some practical advise, best practices and examples on how to help users recover gracefully when things go wrong.

Feel like digging deeper, here are some links to get you started:

• The Perfect 404 by Ian Lloyd
• Communicating error messages accessibly
• Error Message Guidelines
• Useful “Page not found” error pages