diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -2,6 +2,11 @@
 
 `http-directory` uses [PVP Versioning](https://pvp.haskell.org).
 
+## 0.1.2
+- add httpManager convenient function
+- print url when result not 200
+- add an example
+
 ## 0.1.1
 - add httpLastModified
 
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -15,4 +15,4 @@
 but since http directories are just html pages it can actually be used
 to list the links (href's) on any html webpage.
 
-See the haddock documentation for usage.
+See an [example](https://github.com/juhp/http-directory/blob/master/example/latest-ghc.hs) and the haddock documentation for usage.
diff --git a/http-directory.cabal b/http-directory.cabal
--- a/http-directory.cabal
+++ b/http-directory.cabal
@@ -1,11 +1,10 @@
 cabal-version:       1.18
 name:                http-directory
-version:             0.1.1
+version:             0.1.2
 synopsis:            http directory listing library
 description:
-            Library for listing http directories of files (links).
-            Also it can check the size and modtime of files,
-            and for url redirects.
+            Library for listing the files (links) in an http directory.
+            Also can check the size and modtime of files, and for url redirects.
 homepage:            https://github.com/juhp/http-directory
 bug-reports:         https://github.com/juhp/http-directory/issues
 license:             MIT
@@ -18,7 +17,7 @@
 extra-doc-files:     README.md
                    , CHANGELOG.md
 tested-with:         GHC == 7.6.3, GHC == 7.8.4, GHC == 7.10.3, GHC == 8.0.2,
-                     GHC == 8.2.2, GHC == 8.4.4, GHC == 8.6.4
+                     GHC == 8.2.2, GHC == 8.4.4, GHC == 8.6.5
 
 source-repository head
   type:                git
@@ -33,6 +32,7 @@
                        bytestring,
                        html-conduit,
                        http-client,
+                       http-client-tls,
                        http-date,
                        http-types,
                        text,
diff --git a/src/Network/HTTP/Directory.hs b/src/Network/HTTP/Directory.hs
--- a/src/Network/HTTP/Directory.hs
+++ b/src/Network/HTTP/Directory.hs
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
        ( httpDirectory,
          httpFileSize,
          httpLastModified,
+         httpManager,
          httpRedirect,
          httpRedirects
        ) where
@@ -37,8 +38,9 @@
 import Data.Time.Clock (UTCTime)
 
 import Network.HTTP.Client (hrRedirects, httpLbs, httpNoBody, Manager, method,
-                            parseRequest, responseBody, responseHeaders,
-                            responseOpenHistory, responseStatus)
+                            newManager, parseRequest, responseBody,
+                            responseHeaders, responseOpenHistory, responseStatus)
+import Network.HTTP.Client.TLS (tlsManagerSettings)
 import Network.HTTP.Date (httpDateToUTC, parseHTTPDate)
 import Network.HTTP.Types (hContentLength, hLocation, statusCode)
 
@@ -58,7 +60,9 @@
   request <- parseRequest url
   response <- httpLbs request mgr
   if statusCode (responseStatus response) /= 200
-    then error $ show $ responseStatus response
+    then do
+    putStrLn url
+    error $ show $ responseStatus response
     else do
     let body = responseBody response
         doc = parseLBS body
@@ -73,7 +77,9 @@
   request <- parseRequest url
   response <- httpNoBody (request {method = "HEAD"}) mgr
   if statusCode (responseStatus response) /= 200
-    then error $ show $ responseStatus response
+    then do
+    putStrLn url
+    error $ show $ responseStatus response
     else do
     let headers = responseHeaders response
     return $ read . B.unpack <$> lookup hContentLength headers
@@ -81,16 +87,28 @@
 -- | Try to get the modification time (Last-Modified field) of an http file
 --
 -- Raises an error if the http request fails.
+--
+-- @since 0.1.1
 httpLastModified :: Manager -> String -> IO (Maybe UTCTime)
 httpLastModified mgr url = do
   request <- parseRequest url
   response <- httpNoBody (request {method = "HEAD"}) mgr
   if statusCode (responseStatus response) /= 200
-    then error $ show $ responseStatus response
+    then do
+    putStrLn url
+    error $ show $ responseStatus response
     else do
     let headers = responseHeaders response
         mdate = lookup "Last-Modified" headers
     return $ httpDateToUTC <$> maybe Nothing parseHTTPDate mdate
+
+-- | alias for 'newManager tlsManagerSettings'
+-- so one does not need to import http-client etc
+--
+-- @since 0.1.2
+httpManager :: IO Manager
+httpManager =
+  newManager tlsManagerSettings
 
 -- | Returns the list of http redirects for an url in reverse order
 -- (ie last redirect is listed first)