Expression® Web Design
| 
| 
404 Error Page -Not- Found
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
When creating a web site in today's time, it is imperative that you consider creating a 404 Error, Page Not Found.Basically, a server has a list code, 18 in the 400 arena, that mean different things. The 404 Page Not Found is one of the basic ones that is found a lot of times, no matter how large or small your web site is. You might have accidentally linked to an image, and that image is no longer in your web site. Now, the user won't see this page, but the server will tell the browser 404 on that file and the browser will stop trying to download the file.
Over the years, some 404 pages have be very comical and there is probably still a race going on somewhere to see who can great the funniest 404 Error page.
Proper 404 Pages
When a user goes to your web site, he / she excepts to see a certain page. After all, he clicked on a link from a search engine and your URL told him this was what he wanted. However, when he clicked on it, that information is no longer on that page. Maybe you re-did all your pages as a server-type so you could use Server Side Includes (SSI). Maybe you re-did your web site so that it was easier for you to organize.
Whatever the case, that page was not there. Most of the time, the user will
see the image above as generated by the server. But most hosting providers
now will allow you to customize these error pages. Any error code that
begins with a "4" is a client error. A 404 Error (Page Not Found) is very
common amongst web pages.
I have seen several hundreds of 404 Error Pages - some cutesy and some that just explain (too much) beyond the error. Some webmasters might also use their sitemap on their custom 404 Error Page. This will sometimes help the user in locating the original page he / she was looking for.
The most important thing is that you should identify to the user he / she has reached "Page Not Found" web page. Otherwise, the user will think your web site has nothing to do with the his / her search and close the browser.
I have set up a very generic 404 Error Page that includes my sitemap but it does tell the user he has reached a page not found. If you would like to see all the status codes, 10 Status Code Definitions will help you out, explaining each code. You might also consider creating other specific pages for the other Client Error Pages.
I have seen several hundreds of 404 Error Pages - some cutesy and some that just explain (too much) beyond the error. Some webmasters might also use their sitemap on their custom 404 Error Page. This will sometimes help the user in locating the original page he / she was looking for.
The most important thing is that you should identify to the user he / she has reached "Page Not Found" web page. Otherwise, the user will think your web site has nothing to do with the his / her search and close the browser.
I have set up a very generic 404 Error Page that includes my sitemap but it does tell the user he has reached a page not found. If you would like to see all the status codes, 10 Status Code Definitions will help you out, explaining each code. You might also consider creating other specific pages for the other Client Error Pages.
Helpful Web Sites
And of course there are web sites dedicated to 404 Error pages. There is the 404 Research Lab and the 404 Lounge.
