virheilmaisun

Virheilmaisun (Finnish for 'error message') denotes a notification generated by software to indicate that an error or abnormal condition has occurred. It serves to inform users, assist operators, and support debugging. While it often appears as a visible dialog or banner, virheilmaisun can also refer to console output, log entries, or machine-readable signals used by other software.

Purpose and audience. For end users, messages should be clear, concise, and actionable, avoiding unnecessary technical details. For developers and operators, virheilmaisun may include codes, contexts, or stack traces to speed diagnosis. A well-designed error message balances user friendliness with sufficient information for troubleshooting and repair.

Content and types. Common elements include an error code, human-readable description, context (where the error occurred), severity level, and suggested next steps. Errors can be categorized as input errors (invalid data), system errors (resource limits or crashes), operational errors (temporary service failure), or fatal errors (application termination).

Presentation and design. Messages should be consistent across the product, localized to the user's language, and accessible. They should avoid leaking sensitive information and, where appropriate, offer recoverable actions. In practice, there is a distinction between user-facing virheilmaisut (friendly messages) and internal logs or debugging messages intended for developers.

Relation to logging and UX. Virheilmaisun is the user-visible aspect of error handling, while logs capture detailed technical information. Good practices include separating display content from logs, using structured formats for machine parsing, and ensuring messages are searchable and actionable. Examples: "Error 400: Invalid input. Please correct the data and try again." "Error 500: Unexpected server error. Contact support if the problem persists."