Evaluation Results
9. Help Users Recognize, Diagnose, and Recover from Errors
Principle
Error messages should be expressed in plain language (no codes), precisely indicate the problem, and constructively suggest a solution (Nielsen,1995a).
Results
WDL has a good system in assisting the users to identify the typo errors and offering suggestions to recover from mistakes. For instance, in Figure 13, when the user searches for more items in the Edo period of Japanese, he or she mistakenly enters ‘edoo’ in the search box. The WDL signals the typo error with red underline.
Figure 21. WDL signals the typo error with red underline.
As shown in Figure 14, the system also offers suggestions relating to the typo error.
As shown in Figure 14, the system also offers suggestions relating to the typo error.
Figure 22. WDL offers suggestions relating to the typo error.
However, sometimes the system is insensitive to word space error and offers less constructive solution to the problem. As can be seen in Figure 15, when word space is left out between ‘Hong’ and ‘Kong’, the system fails to detect the error and offers unconstructive suggestion.
However, sometimes the system is insensitive to word space error and offers less constructive solution to the problem. As can be seen in Figure 15, when word space is left out between ‘Hong’ and ‘Kong’, the system fails to detect the error and offers unconstructive suggestion.
Figure 23. WDL fails to detect the word space error.
Recommendations
WDL has developed a system that helps the users recognize and recover from the errors. However, improvement should be made to rid the word space problem.
Acknowledgement
It is acknowledged that the pictures on this website were captured from the websites of the World Digital Library and Calisphere for educational purpose only.