An
error message is information displayed when an unexpected condition occurs, usually on a
computer or other device. On modern operating systems with
graphical user interfaces, error messages are often displayed using
dialog boxes. Error messages are used when user intervention is required, to indicate that a desired operation has failed, or to relay important warnings (such as warning a computer user that they are almost out of
hard disk space). Error messages are seen widely throughout computing, and are part of every
operating system or
computer hardware device. Proper design of error messages is an important topic in
usability and other fields of
human–computer interaction.