Cause and Recovery Information

Whenever possible, explain to users exactly what has happened and what they can do to remedy the situation.

The message Bad arg is not very helpful. However, the following message tells users exactly what to do to make the command work:

Do not specify more than 2 files on the command line

Similarly, the message Line too long does not giver users recovery information. However, the following message gives users more specific recovery information:

Line cannot exceed 20 characters

If detailed recovery information is necessary for a given error message, add it to the appropriate place in online information or help.

See "Sample Messages" for samples of original and rewritten messages.