When constructing error messages make the error message be
the answers to these 3 questions (in that order):
What happened?
Why did it happen?
What can be done about it?
This is from "Human Interface Guidelines: The Apple Desktop
Interface" (1987, ISBN 0-201-17753-6), but it can be used
for any error message anywhere.
There is an updated version for Mac OS X.
The Microsoft page
User Interface Messages
says the same thing: "... in the case of an error message,
you should include the issue, the cause, and the user action
to correct the problem."
Also include any information that is known by the program,
not just some fixed string. E.g. for the "Why did it happen" part of the error message use "Raw spectrum file
L:\refDataForMascotParser\TripleEncoding\Q1LCMS190203_01Doub
leArg.wiff does not exist" instead of just "File does
not exist".
Contrast this with the infamous error message: "An error
happend.".
