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
Other HTTP status codes
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
Great 404 pages are…
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