Follow UI alert guidelines¶
Alerts, or messages, are important to inform users about progress that they make or problems that they encounter in the user interface.
Use the following alert types:
Success
Info
Warning
Danger (Error)
General alert guidelines¶
When writing alerts, follow these rules:
Be courteous and do not blame the user
Use present tense to describe conditions that currently exist, or use past tense to describe a specific event that occurred in the past
Keep sentences short but helpful
Adhere to the guidelines in the Writing style section
Alert structure for new danger (error) conditions¶
A danger alert, or error message, should help the user resolve the problem quickly so that they can continue making progress. Do not include an error if you can avoid publishing the alert by enhancing the code.
State the problem clearly and briefly.
If appropriate, explain why the user encountered the error.
If possible, tell the user how to fix the problem. If further information is needed, consider whether the documentation should be enhanced.
Note
API returns might not be specific enough to adhere to these structure guidelines. Be as explicit as you can in stating the problem and resolution.
Alert examples¶
- Success
Successfully created key pair %(name)s.
Image successfully updated.
- Info
Updating volume snapshot “%s”
Creating volume “%s”
- Warning
Policy check failed.
Insufficient privilege level exists to view user information.
- Danger
Unable to create the volume.
Unable to retrieve the image.
