CakePHP error validation - php

Question

I have a cakephp form that has validation. The validation itself works BUT when an error shows up after clicking submit, it just produces some text.
Why am I getting no colour. eg Its meant to display errors in red.
Controller
<div class="users form">
<?php echo $this->Form->create('Ticket'); ?>
<fieldset>
<legend><?php echo __('Purchase'); ?></legend>
<?php
echo $this->Form->input('first_name');
echo $this->Form->input('last_name');
echo $this->Form->input('email');
echo $this->Form->input('phone');
echo $this->Form->input('date', array('options'=> $dates));
echo $this->Form->input('quantity', array('options' => $maxAmount, 'default' => '1'));
?>
</fieldset>
<?php
echo $this->Form->end(__('Purchase'));
?>
</div>
Model
public $validate = array(
'first_name' => array(
'rule' => '/^[a-zA-Z]{1,}$/i',
'message' => 'Alphabets only',
'required' => true
),
'last_name' => array(
'rule' => '/^[a-zA-Z]{1,}$/i',
'message' => 'Alphabet only',
'required' => true
),
'phone' => array(
'rule' => 'numeric',
'message' => 'numbers only please',
'required' => true
),
'email' => array(
'rule' => 'email',
'message' => 'Your email is not valid',
'required' => true
),
'quantity' => array(
'rule' => 'numeric',
'message' => 'numbers only please',
'required' => true
)
);

Answer 1

Did you include a stylesheet in your default.ctp? If you removed the default CakePHP stylesheet from your default.ctp layout, the default colours will no longer be there.
You need to either include the CakePHP stylesheet again in your layout (here you can see how it was in the original default.ctp: https://github.com/cakephp/cakephp/blob/master/app/View/Layouts/default.ctp#L33)
Or create your own CSS styles in your stylesheet. You can use the styles from the default CakePHP stylesheet as an example;
https://github.com/cakephp/cakephp/blob/master/app/webroot/css/cake.generic.css#L371

Answer 2

There is nothing wrong with your code. That is just how CakePHP is handling the error reporting. The red stuff is reserved for major errors like missing view, or a missing function, or cant connect to the database. Basically stuff that would generate a status code that is in the range of 400.
I did some searching to answer your question better, but i stumbled on this page.
CakePHP 2.0 - How to make custom error pages?
Its all about what status code CakePHP will generate when u do something wrong.
Validation errors will I think throw even an OK (200) but wont write anything to the database. Happened a couple a times to me.