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ArticleBot · Jul 14, 2004, 11:09

This is an article discussion thread for discussing the SitePoint article, "'Not Found' Is Not An Option: Error Handling and User Experience"

Bryce · Jul 14, 2004, 11:09

Although old news to me, this information really is valuable and well written. You put a good spin on keeping the user within the site here.

mrsmiley · Jul 14, 2004, 17:02

I was actually thinking about doing this very thing the other day. All I was planning on doing was to brand the 404 error so it looked like it was from my site.

But with this info in the kitty, I'm going to rethink that and maybe put some more useful items on the error pages.

The only thing that is missing from this article is how to actually implement the custom error pages. I've always known you can do it, but not known how.

Jul 15, 2004, 06:27

If you want to get really fancy make a MySQL table and insert your 404 errors (and referer info) there, then view the table every so often to see what has gone wrong.. This will save you from looking through logs to find the 404 errors... In fact, if you put a bit of logic in your 404 page, you can toss common 404 errors out the window altogether (like the ones caused by Worms). Also, you could prioritize the 404 errors so that dynamic pages are separated out from static ones, etc.. (You should probably have a priority to fixing your 404's... Dynamic pages are probably most important.. Static images are probably least important..)

Skitso · Jul 15, 2004, 07:55

A concise article, and with first iplementation of mod_rewrite on my site I now am armed with a better idea of what I need to do. However, I do wish it were more detailed, perhaps with a few examples of cleverly constructed 404s. Thank you for the article.

Jul 15, 2004, 11:51

A very good overview of the 404 page is provided at http://www.plinko.net/404/default.asp.

Jul 16, 2004, 18:34

For mistyping it it isn't just Apache, typo correction is easy on IIS as well. There have been some articles recently about .NET based error catching and you can use a ISAPI filter like URLspellcheck to link typos as well.

Jul 19, 2004, 17:13

Thanks a lot for your feedback.

The subject matter of this article isn't extremely advanced, I just tried to make of compilation of techniques and ideas I have applied in my work. However, in order to deliver material useful to the broadest audience possible, I wanted to be as technology-agnostic as possible.

That's why this article is not a step-by-step tutorial, on how to build Error 404 pages. For example, as IISGuys says, IIS also supports spell checking, which I didn't know, given that I have lost track of IIS since version 4 or 5. I only run Apache in my shop.

Stikso asks for good examples of 404 pages, and Jason almost got it:

http://www.plinko.net/404/area404.asp

Area 404 has a collection of clever and funny 404 pages. I checked the site while researching for the article. It's worth a look.

Again, thank you very much for your feedback.

Jul 20, 2004, 02:47

What you CAN do is write a dynamic 404 handler that tries to search for what the user seems to be looking for e.g.
www.notebooks.com/ibm/thinkpad would imply the user is looking for info about IBM Thinkpads and you can respond appropriately. I have implemented something like this in PHP telling Apache to send all 404s to 404.php.

BTW the idea of doing this originally came from Rasmus Lerdorf (That's MR PHP to you :)

Jul 14, 2004, 11:09	#1
ArticleBot SitePoint Articles Join Date: Apr 2001 Posts: 0	Article Discussion This is an article discussion thread for discussing the SitePoint article, "'Not Found' Is Not An Option: Error Handling and User Experience"

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Jul 14, 2004, 11:09	#2
Bryce SitePoint Enthusiast Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Perth, Western Australia Posts: 48	Although old news to me, this information really is valuable and well written. You put a good spin on keeping the user within the site here.

Jul 14, 2004, 17:02	#3
mrsmiley SitePoint Zealot Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Melbourne Posts: 173	I was actually thinking about doing this very thing the other day. All I was planning on doing was to brand the 404 error so it looked like it was from my site. But with this info in the kitty, I'm going to rethink that and maybe put some more useful items on the error pages. The only thing that is missing from this article is how to actually implement the custom error pages. I've always known you can do it, but not known how.

Jul 15, 2004, 06:27	#4
Paul SitePoint Community Guest Posts: n/a	If you want to get really fancy make a MySQL table and insert your 404 errors (and referer info) there, then view the table every so often to see what has gone wrong.. This will save you from looking through logs to find the 404 errors... In fact, if you put a bit of logic in your 404 page, you can toss common 404 errors out the window altogether (like the ones caused by Worms). Also, you could prioritize the 404 errors so that dynamic pages are separated out from static ones, etc.. (You should probably have a priority to fixing your 404's... Dynamic pages are probably most important.. Static images are probably least important..)

Jul 15, 2004, 07:55	#5
Skitso SitePoint Member Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Tallahassee Posts: 16	A concise article, and with first iplementation of mod_rewrite on my site I now am armed with a better idea of what I need to do. However, I do wish it were more detailed, perhaps with a few examples of cleverly constructed 404s. Thank you for the article.

Jul 15, 2004, 11:51	#6
Jason SitePoint Community Guest Posts: n/a	A very good overview of the 404 page is provided at http://www.plinko.net/404/default.asp.

Jul 16, 2004, 18:34	#7
IISGuy SitePoint Community Guest Posts: n/a	For mistyping it it isn't just Apache, typo correction is easy on IIS as well. There have been some articles recently about .NET based error catching and you can use a ISAPI filter like URLspellcheck to link typos as well.

Jul 19, 2004, 17:13	#8
Oscar Trelles SitePoint Community Guest Posts: n/a	Thanks a lot for your feedback. The subject matter of this article isn't extremely advanced, I just tried to make of compilation of techniques and ideas I have applied in my work. However, in order to deliver material useful to the broadest audience possible, I wanted to be as technology-agnostic as possible. That's why this article is not a step-by-step tutorial, on how to build Error 404 pages. For example, as IISGuys says, IIS also supports spell checking, which I didn't know, given that I have lost track of IIS since version 4 or 5. I only run Apache in my shop. Stikso asks for good examples of 404 pages, and Jason almost got it: http://www.plinko.net/404/area404.asp Area 404 has a collection of clever and funny 404 pages. I checked the site while researching for the article. It's worth a look. Again, thank you very much for your feedback.

Jul 20, 2004, 02:47	#9
Mike SitePoint Community Guest Posts: n/a	What you CAN do is write a dynamic 404 handler that tries to search for what the user seems to be looking for e.g. www.notebooks.com/ibm/thinkpad would imply the user is looking for info about IBM Thinkpads and you can respond appropriately. I have implemented something like this in PHP telling Apache to send all 404s to 404.php. BTW the idea of doing this originally came from Rasmus Lerdorf (That's MR PHP to you :)