On Oct 14, 2006, at 4:22 AM, Dries Buytaert wrote:
The Drupal APC usability report (http://drupal.org/node/83806) has several suggestions for improving error messages, help texts, etc. For example, on page 13 ('detect errors automatically') they recommend: consider providing a link to help besides error message or provide an option for more verbose error reporting.
I really like this idea. Case in point, when we included administration help text with a link to the handbook, we got lots of comments telling us why the help text was missing critical information. We improved the information, and the number of comments quickly leveled off, indicating people were getting the information they needed.
Maybe it would be a good idea to create a small module that extends help text and error messages with a rating widget?
"Was this error message useful? [*****]"
The response should get send to Drupal.org and then we can prioritize problematic messages.
In the CivicSpace installer, every error message during installation included a link to CivicSpaceLabs.org with more detailed instructions and the ability to post comments. http://civicspacelabs.org/home/installer_help/082 This allowed us to both improve the documentation, and understand what to improve in the next version. I think we should separate error messages for Drupal administrators from end users. I would enable special error messaging by default for all administrators through the Release Candidates, and Beta's as it's an important part of getting feedback. Alternatively, you could simply count page views from error messages to determine if certain error messages were getting a lot of click-throughs. As long as the error messages didn't show up to the end users, I think you administrators would be tolerant of default feedback mechanisms.
We could ship this module with the Drupal 5.0 betas but leave it out once the final release ships. Seems like a fun little module that could make a huge difference. Ideal for people who want to learn jQuery and AJAX.
Connecting Drupal software, to have stronger interactive feedback with the community that supports and develops it is a very important activity for Drupal going forward. A good place to start would be to get a list of all Drupal error messages, particularly error messages for administration. Then we could create pages in the handbook for them. Cheers, Kieran
-- Dries Buytaert :: http://www.buytaert.net/