All About Custom 404 Pages

A custom 404 page is a page on your site that appears when a user reaches a broken link to your site. You need one because it can help your search engine rankings and it can also prevent your users from leaving your site.

First, create a page on your site that directs people to your home page or other location with a message stating that they have found a page that no longer exists. Add the page to your site files.

Second, check to see if you have an .htaccess file in the root folder of your site. If so, you will want to alter this in Notepad (or similar editor). If you do not have an .htaccess file, create one with Notepad (or similar) making sure there is no .txt. extension on the file. Inside the file, you need to use this text:

ErrorDocument 404 /filename.html

filename.html should be replaced with the name of the file you created for the page you added to your site.

Third, test it out. Try a url that doesn't exist on your site to see if your custom 404 page is working. If it is not working, check with your web host. See our web design 404 page.

Search engines like to see that you have a 404 page covered and users appreciate not receiving a 'This Page Cannot Be Found' error.

Changing Websites for Our Users

Web usability guidelines remain fairly constant despite the rapid changes in many parts of the web industry. In a recent article by Jakob Nielsen, he reports that User Skills are Improving, But Only Slightly. In the event that our users are becoming more keen to web technologies, there will be a need at some point to change our websites to better accomodate them.

It is important to design a website that will be usable for all of its users. This means accomodating those with varying levels of web experience. Often the industry and purpose of a website can usually narrow down the target user group.

Until we see proven results in user change, we need to remember to design for the lowest common denominator when it comes to web experience. I believe that as our population ages, this will change significantly due to the amount of web experience the younger generation has.