A Typical Security Message

A Typical Security Message

Figure 24-1 shows a typical example of a bad security confirmation message.

Figure 24-1. An example of a common, but bad, error message.

This message is a notification and has something resembling an explanation. The user can proceed to view the page by clicking Yes or can avoid some vague security risk by clicking No. Allow me to show you in Figure 24-2 what the user just saw when she read this error message.

Figure 24-2. What the user just read.

So why is the first message bad? The message asks a question that the user cannot possibly answer intelligently. The user has requested that Microsoft Internet Explorer display a page, and this message implicitly advises against loading the page through the wording of the text and by highlighting No as the default choice. The specific security risk that the page poses is not sufficiently explained, so the downside of continuing is unclear. In short, this message is bad because it doesn't give the user enough information to make a good decision. Consequently, the message fails to be useful.