Error state
What the app shows when something goes wrong, ideally saying what happened and what to do next.
What it is
An error state is the screen, message, or toast shown when something fails: the network drops, a save is rejected, a page doesn't exist. Unhandled errors show up as blank screens, frozen buttons, or raw messages like "Error 500".
A good error message says what happened in plain words, whether the person's work is safe, and what to do next ("Couldn't save. Check your connection and try again."). It never blames the user or hides the problem.
Ask for error states explicitly. Builders tend to build the happy path first and leave failures for later.
How to ask for it
“Sometimes it just breaks and shows nothing.”
“Add error states everywhere data loads or saves: if a load fails, show a message with a "Try again" button in place of the content; if a save fails, keep the user's input and show an error toast saying what failed. Never show raw error codes.”
"It just breaks" describes a symptom; "error states" names what's missing and the prompt sets load and save behavior.
You've seen this in
- GGmail's "Offline. Trying again in 5s" notice
- AA friendly 404 page
- CCard declined messages at checkout