Design for when things go wrong

The user interface is the means by which users interact with an application. No matter how functional an application is, if the interface is not well developed, not centered on the user, not understandable, it does not use the psychology of color correctly, we would be creating an application destined to failure.

You will never have a second chance to make a good first impression and the only way to do it is through a clean functional design adapted to the users. But one thing is for sure, the application will fail and users will make mistakes, no matter how many test cases have been made, something will go wrong and there goes the defensive design or contingent design.

The defensive design is the practice of anticipating any error that may happen, whether committed by the user or not. In a simpler sense, it can be said that it is the art of handling possible errors.

In the contingent design, it seeks to show in a friendly way the errors that can occur when using an application, it can be through images or messages. Some errors are grotesque like showing the fields of the database, others are lighter but they also require attention. Some of the most common errors that must be handled in a web application, preferably through images are:

• Error 404
• Error 403
• Error 500

Remember that users often make mistakes when using an application, should make it very clear what they are doing wrong, imply why the application does not work as expected by the user, do not allow the user to move away from the application without knowing the mistake he made, create an environment in which the user tries again, this time in the correct way. To mitigate the drawbacks, use alert and error messages. Also, create and use the help section to provide more information to the user.