title: An alternative to alert/confirm/error dialogs?
body: <p>We all know that alerts are bad. If you didn't know it read <a href="http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000114.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this</a></p>
  
  <p>Alerts are used to communicate with the user. So if we don't use them what is a good alternative? </p>
  
  <p>I'd like to get a nice list of good alternatives to choose from when implementing something that requires user communications.</p>
  
  <p>I'll give one myself as an example and for everyone to use:</p>
  
  <p><strong>Case:</strong> we need to validate user input before we can proceed.</p>
  
  <p><strong>Solution:</strong> instead of showing an alert box when user clicks ok/next/submit show a clearly styled (eg. red on a white bg) "frame" around/next to the user input that has the invalid input with an informative text on what is wrong. To make it easier on the user the input in question should gain focus and if necessary moved back into view.</p>