Importance of Validation Messages

Importance of validation messages

As a user without have any knowledge about technical concept I really expect these two things from the application :

1.The product or application should work properly as per the requirement.

2.The product or application should be easy to use and understand.

When the product is in development phase it is very important to keep in mind that providing more features to the application should not compromise with the application usability.Ultimately the application is going to be used by the normal user.

So, the usability is one of the most important thing which should be considered while developing.To make good usability and understanding of the application the validation messages play a very important role.

The validation messages are those default messages which display when the validation of any input field get failed.

If user type or enter something and get the immediate response what to enter and what not to enter then this thing makes the usability of the application so much easy.It is very natural that when someone gives the instruction to perform a certain task then that task becomes easy to perform in the same way the validation messages play the role of mentor or instructor while using an application.

If the user enters something in signup form and the application block the user to enter anything without instructing what actually happens.This makes the user so irritated and confused about why the application blocking him/her to enter anything.If the signup form or any form/application provide the proper validation messages to instruct the user about how to use the application then the user will enjoy while using the application.

Validation messages can be applied on button click as well as on shift focus and these both have their own usage and importance.

Some commonly used validation messages:

1.Required field validation

2.Minimum length validation

3.Maximum length validation

4.Format validation
 

For eg Signup validation messages:

Other than this there can be much more validation messages for signup form.In above image it is clearly shown the username cannot be null it means it is mandatory, the signup form cannot be submitted until the username is filled.So these are the important instructions which instruct the user how to use the application.