Great 404 pages · Web Dev 5

Great 404 pages

What’s a 404

404 is a technical error message from HTTP

Error code 404 means: “Not found”

404 error pages are a last resort—your user should, ideally, never see it

200 — “OK”, page is found and sent

301 — “Moved permanently”, you’re getting redirected to another URL

401 — “Unauthorized”, page is password protected

500 — “Internal server error”, the server ran into a problem

Helpful — Explain to the user what happened, how to solve it, hints at where to go

Fast — Don’t make the user wait for the 404 page to load, they already can’t get what they want

Fun — Getting a 404 sucks, have some personality and fun for the user