404 custom page

[LEVY]

This goes for Shep & Spittybug and also to others who also have their own websites:

Do you know that you can create your own custom 404 webpage?

I believe those two sites above mentioned would benefit from a custom 404 webpage.

If you need help or see an example, let me know.

LEVY

[Spittybug]

OK, I'll bite. What's a custom 404 page?

[Kenny_Z]

Something like this: http://www.thinkgeek.com/404 or http://m-cgi.com/404

[LEVY]

OK, I'll bite. What's a custom 404 page?

When someone click on a broken or invalid link like this one: http://www.mylifebridgecard.com/test (http:// http://www.mylifebridgecard.com/test)

Instead of taking your visitor to that ugly page you can make a nicer custom page like thisone:
http://www.lego.com/test


LEVY

[Timebender]

How about:
Great Scott! By hitting this page you could conceivably encounter your future self! The consequences of that could be disastrous! We need to send you back!

- though I know a lot of D owners hate all the BTTF stuff, funny as it can be for a 404 page...

[LEVY]

How about:
Great Scott! By hitting this page you could conceivably encounter your future self! The consequences of that could be disastrous! We need to send you back!

- though I know a lot of D owners hate all the BTTF stuff, funny as it can be for a 404 page...

or:

Hold your horses!

You landed on a future page that does not exist, yet.

Go back to your time!

LEVY

[Shep]

I've done some work with 404 pages, but at least for my site, there's two reasons why I haven't implemented them yet. First, links will never change as long as my site is up. From the instant a link is generated, it will remain active for the entire lifespan of the site. Only a "user error" typo will result in an invalid link. It's not terribly hard to add code to compensate for this with future expansion however, and I'm in the planning process of doing exactly that for the "landing" page (the blog will then be moved to e.g. "/?blog" in the same way the posts are currently e.g. "/?23", which themselves will remain the same). Second reason is that I don't want search engines or archive.org indexing invalid links they come across. Most of those web crawlers are pretty good at avoiding that, but I have still come across 404 pages, and every single time it's one of those "custom" pages that wasn't detected properly. By not making a custom page, it avoids the issue, and invalid links are not indexed.

Plus a generic 404 page is obvious enough that even the least tech-savvy of visitors will know something's up, which gets me notified of any invalid links I've made on the site quicker ;)

[Michael]

When someone click on a broken or invalid link like this one: http://www.mylifebridgecard.com/test (http:// http://www.mylifebridgecard.com/test)

Instead of taking your visitor to that ugly page you can make a nicer custom page like thisone:
http://www.lego.com/test


LEVY

I know you are trying to make some kind of point....just tell us what it is instead of trying to be witty.

BTW you are not doing a good job of either

[LEVY]

I've done some work with 404 pages, but at least for my site, there's two reasons why I haven't implemented them yet. First, links will never change as long as my site is up. From the instant a link is generated, it will remain active for the entire lifespan of the site. Only a "user error" typo will result in an invalid link. It's not terribly hard to add code to compensate for this with future expansion however, and I'm in the planning process of doing exactly that for the "landing" page (the blog will then be moved to e.g. "/?blog" in the same way the posts are currently e.g. "/?23", which themselves will remain the same). Second reason is that I don't want search engines or archive.org indexing invalid links they come across. Most of those web crawlers are pretty good at avoiding that, but I have still come across 404 pages, and every single time it's one of those "custom" pages that wasn't detected properly. By not making a custom page, it avoids the issue, and invalid links are not indexed.

Plus a generic 404 page is obvious enough that even the least tech-savvy of visitors will know something's up, which gets me notified of any invalid links I've made on the site quicker ;)

As long as your server returns 404 code, your custom 404 page will not get indexed. Some times, even on this site you click on a link and you endup on a 404 page, you click back and click the same link again and now it works, that happen very often on any website.

Even if a 404 page gets indexed, it better be a nice one.

This is just a sugestion, a lot of webmasters never think of a custom 404 page, but most will eventually create one.


LEVY

[Shep]

As long as your server returns 404 code, your custom 404 page will not get indexed. Some times, even on this site you click on a link and you endup on a 404 page, you click back and click the same link again and now it works, that happen very often on any website.I have never heard of sporadic 404 pages like you're describing. Servers don't get "confused" like that unless some of the content is still being uploaded and you catch it midway through the process. :confused2: It's almost always another server code or just a dropped connection, which depending on your setup can appear identical, however that is not something the server is able to process.

Case in point: when 500 (internal server error) applies to the page as a whole, it does not send the client any data other than the server code. This is not something that can be circumvented, and when it applies to only parts of a page, it simply appears nonfunctional, but doesn't display any error screens. 418 also can't be recovered from, since at that point the server has turned into a teapot and is toast (which I've heard makes a lovely breakfast). But if you find a link located on my site that links to a page with a 404 code, I'd much rather be told about it sooner rather than later, so it can be fixed quickly :)

[ccurzio]

if you find a link located on my site that links to a page with a 404 code, I'd much rather be told about it sooner rather than later, so it can be fixed quickly :)

This is why log reviews are important. My 404 errordocument asks visitors to email me if they've gotten the error unexpectedly. I've had my website for over a decade and I have never ONCE received that kind of email.

This is also a good reason to have a custom 404 page, since you can trigger a script to email you the conditions that generated the error.

[LEVY]

This is why log reviews are important. My 404 errordocument asks visitors to email me if they've gotten the error unexpectedly. I've had my website for over a decade and I have never ONCE received that kind of email.

This is also a good reason to have a custom 404 page, since you can trigger a script to email you the conditions that generated the error.


You are correct, who cares to email webmaster to let him know one of his pages is not working?

The only time people will contact you, if ever is when you have problems during checkout, that is if you are selling something, for a personal website, belive me, not even your friends will.

LEVY

[LEVY]

I have never heard of sporadic 404 pages like you're describing. Servers don't get "confused" like that unless some of the content is still being uploaded and you catch it midway through the process. :confused2: It's almost always another server code or just a dropped connection, which depending on your setup can appear identical, however that is not something the server is able to process.

Case in point: when 500 (internal server error) applies to the page as a whole, it does not send the client any data other than the server code. This is not something that can be circumvented, and when it applies to only parts of a page, it simply appears nonfunctional, but doesn't display any error screens. 418 also can't be recovered from, since at that point the server has turned into a teapot and is toast (which I've heard makes a lovely breakfast). But if you find a link located on my site that links to a page with a 404 code, I'd much rather be told about it sooner rather than later, so it can be fixed quickly :)

Something some people don't understand, you can have a perfectly running website and still have broken links out of your website, of course, with a website with little interesting content (for others than yourself and your family), chances for someone else to find a broken link are very slim.

And yes, a good link might not work one time (end up on a 404 page and not on 500, 501 or even 502 error page), then seconds later it will work fine, you can ask someone more experienced if you don't believe me.

Now, if you rely on some unknown visitor to let you know one of your pages is not working, then keep waiting!

Again, if you run a online store like Josh's for example, then people will start calling you to see what is wrong with your site and to find another way to buy frmo you.

I just pointed out that it would be a good idea to have a custome 404 page, big companies now are building nice 404 pages.

Again, and you should know it by now, a well made custom 404 page would not be indexed by google or by any other search engines.


Levy

[Shep]

You're comparing apples to oranges here. Merchant websites are entirely different than websites like mine which are not in it to make money. For merchants, products change all the time. Products get discontinued, others they stop carrying, etc. and the proper way to notify the customer of this is a custom 404 page telling them that the product they're trying to find is no longer sold by that store. Every "big name" store website I have ever been to has done this. Thinkgeek, Newegg, Amazon, eBay, pretty much every single department store all do this as their product lineups change. The same applies to manufacturers like Lego; most of their products are no longer being made for a wide variety of reasons. This is, for merchants, the correct approach.

The difference is when you move on to websites that aren't trying to sell anything. 99% of dead links for these sites, again, come from typos, or (more commonly) site redesign with no regard to link preservation. That is exactly what I have worked to avoid. My two biggest goals in terms of site design are backwards compatibility and link preservation. As long as the latter is done, there is no need for a 404 page. Especially when combined with periodic unit testing to ensure all local links on a site work as they should, which is exactly what I do. I simply do not see a need for a custom 404 page when all my links work properly and every link is permanently active. The only time a 404 error will be made is when someone off-site makes a typo. There's no reason to even worry about that -- they'll figure it out and get the correct link. It's better when it's the generic design because it gets noticed faster than using my site template for it.

[LEVY]

You're comparing apples to oranges here. Merchant websites are entirely different than websites like mine which are not in it to make money. For merchants, products change all the time. Products get discontinued, others they stop carrying, etc. and the proper way to notify the customer of this is a custom 404 page telling them that the product they're trying to find is no longer sold by that store. Every "big name" store website I have ever been to has done this. Thinkgeek, Newegg, Amazon, eBay, pretty much every single department store all do this as their product lineups change. The same applies to manufacturers like Lego; most of their products are no longer being made for a wide variety of reasons. This is, for merchants, the correct approach.

The difference is when you move on to websites that aren't trying to sell anything. 99% of dead links for these sites, again, come from typos, or (more commonly) site redesign with no regard to link preservation. That is exactly what I have worked to avoid. My two biggest goals in terms of site design are backwards compatibility and link preservation. As long as the latter is done, there is no need for a 404 page. Especially when combined with periodic unit testing to ensure all local links on a site work as they should, which is exactly what I do. I simply do not see a need for a custom 404 page when all my links work properly and every link is permanently active. The only time a 404 error will be made is when someone off-site makes a typo. There's no reason to even worry about that -- they'll figure it out and get the correct link. It's better when it's the generic design because it gets noticed faster than using my site template for it.

Again, I just pointed that out thinking that you might overlooked that part of a website, if you dont like a custom 404 page, is up to you.

Just for others to understand better:


This is the default image godaddy points to his customers 404 page (customers like vin559.com):


17540

This is goddady's own custom 404 page:

17541

Why godaddy does not use the same image (Ever Feel Like You’re in the Wrong Place?) they point to their customers?

You do the math!

LEVY

[Shep]

Why godaddy does not use the same image (Ever Feel Like You’re in the Wrong Place?) they point to their customers?

You do the math!Apples to oranges...