404 error design

by cheesy

Posted: 17 years ago 6 replies

WEB DESIGN

Just a quick question, is it worth designing a 404 page, or should i just leave it as default, i dont want to spend too much time on it, but i think i should design a quick one just so some of my sites look a bit more user friendly. What do you think?

#404 #design #error

TristanPerry 17 years ago

Yes, make the 404 (and 403) error pages fit in with your site's design. This is good for usability since otherwise it may confuse visitors to your site.
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cheesy 17 years ago

What needs to be included in it, just a link back to the homepage?
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TristanPerry 17 years ago

General rules for an error page can be seen at:

Web Dev Dawn - General usability tips

Basically explain what happened ("The file/page you requested could not be found"), avoid saying it's a 404/403 error (the average user won't know what this means) and link back to the homepage and/or a sitemap.
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cheesy 17 years ago

Thanks so much
Very useful link and post. I knew i could count of WF members to heklp me out thanks again.
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TristanPerry 17 years ago

You're very welcome
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gyar29 17 years ago

Cheesy,

I don't know if this is pertinent to your site, but many of us add some kind of offer on our error pages. What kind? That's up to you. It can be anything. You can even make a free gift for signing-up. Whatever. On one of my sites, I offered error-page templates I'd written.

You know - "Hey, don't know why you're here. But now that you are, don't you wish your error pages looked like this?" type of thing.

Anyway, your error pages are floor space in your store. Never hurts to put something in their face. Impulse buying works.

Take Care,
Gene
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