Creative 404 Error Pages Around for Inspiration
One field often neglected by web developers is the proper handling of 404 Errors – the pages that visitors get when they attempt to access a page or file on your site that doesn’t exist or has been moved. While it’s usually very easy to create a custom 404 page to offer your visitors a comfortable environment.
Nearly one in four of the top 1000 web sites in the U.S., including Yahoo and Google, have 404 error pages largely devoid of any helpful information. It’s very essential to customize your 404 error pages according to visitors convenience.
In this article below, we’ll take a look at Various Creative 404 Error Pages Around for your source of inspiration which help you to built your own custom error page.
What is 404 Error??
For a normal web page, the status is 200 OK. You don’t see this because the server proceeds to send you the contents of the page. It’s only when you encounter an error that you see the actual status code, such as 404 Not Found.
For those, who don’t know what is 404 Error? And how does it occur? Then please follow the link below for detailed introduction.
404 is an HTTP status code. Every time you visit a web page, your computer (the ‘client’) is requesting data from a server using HTTP, or Hypertext Transfer Protocol. Before the web page is even displayed in your browser, the web server has sent the HTTP header, which contains the status code. Not surprisingly, your browser has sent the server its own headers, which contain a lot more information about you than you think!
Why You Need a Custom 404 Page!
Sara P, a web developer form Australia wrote a quality write-up about Top 3 Reasons Why You Need a Custom 404 Page which goes something like this.
- To keep users engaged: A 404 page is typically for the readers or customers who is trying to look something in your site or blog. A custom 404 page nicely designed to navigate back to the previous page or showing related stuffs will please the users and may make them to come back to your site. This builds up your readership and keeps the user engaged and they stay more on your site or blog.
- To avoid losing trust: It is always possible that people end up with 404 error when page has be moved or removed or with broken links. I have seen lot of sites which doesn’t have a custom 404 page at all. Not all the users may understand the error and it will make the users to confuse. The users might consider it as a failure and they will lose trust on your site. A nice extensive custom 404 page will make them understand the problem easier.
- For a better design: A blog or site without custom 404 page is poorly designed and will have its implications. So it is a best practice for any site or blog to include a custom 404 error message without any arguments. Read how to design a good 404 page.
You may be interested in the following related articles as well.
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Creative 404 Error Pages Around for Inspiration
01. iStockphoto
02. Wefollow
03. Hornets247
04. Mixx
05. Fryewiles
06. Teetimes
07. Reddit
08. Clearspring
09. Wufoo
10. ItchyRobot
11. Deviantart
12. Coldink
13. Rockettheme
14. Mozilla
15. Sprawsm
16. Ferdaze
17. ChrisGlass
18. Habrahabr
19. YourWebJob
20. ProductPlanner
21. BrightKite
22. Youcastr
23. Propeller
24. Woothemes
25. Cuoma
26. Wulffmorgenthaler
27. Mundofox
28. ClubPenguin
29. Orangecoat
30. Huwshimi
31. Newspond
32. CSSRemix
33. justin.tv
34. Twitter
35. Acromediainc
36. Bluedaniel
37. Swiss-Miss
38. WhiteHouse
39. SuspendedAnimations
40. Slonky
41. Warhammeronline
42. Maxvoltar
43. Socialthing
44. Socializr
45. Jhuskisson
46. iLoveTypography
47. Rednoseday
48. Henrikhedegaard
49. D20srd
50. Cgcraft
51. Galiacho
52. Plinko
53. Meebo
54. Tix02
55. Kochatelier-berlin
56. Renkoo
57. Jimcromwell
58. Martinkorner
59. Jackfig
60. Teehanlax
61. Gog
62. Project-Euh
63. Homestarrunner
64. Jaiku
65. Thebignoob
66. Dundeeliving
67. Techkultura
68. Cacophony
69. Dazeofourlives
70. Digitalmash
71. Amorphia-Apparel
72. iFolderLinks
73. Tinsanity
74. Spore
75. Kidmondo
76. 24-7media
77. Lookitsme
78. Rubberducky
79. Southparkstudios
80. JustCreativeDesign
81. B3ta
82. Ook
Resource Link Worth Mentioning
Find Something Missing?
While compiling this list, it’s always a possibility that we missed some other great 404 Error Pages. Feel free to share it with us.
Well written and Impressively presented article. Highly Re-commanded :)
Nice round up… I like iStockphoto, Fryewiles, Mundofox & 24-7media the most out of all. thanks DKumar for your efforts.
Great 404 error pages. Thanks for collection
You can see more in my blog: http://tr.im/hxXc
Well, thes 404 error pages are very beautiful! But I think that they could be a little more helpful, maybe adding some informations and tips under the nice logo…
And let’s not forget about our hosts 404 here – http://www.instantshift.com/404.html It’s quite good itself.
Too funny that Jacob, from Just Creative Design, has a very similar message as ours at OnWired – http://onwired.com/404
Tony
@Tony Chester – nice catch about our 404 page… I left that on purpose ;)
nice collection I also have my own 404 page ^^.
http://tinyurl.com/dg36gw
Cuoma (number 25) rocks!!!! :-)
Thanks!
Why in the hell i stumble this article. reasons listed below.
1. I kinda like custom 404 pages concept.
2. it’s a space where you need to show your creativity on one single page.
3. This post comes in handy for 404 error page design lovers.
4. Now i’m also designing my 404 page from scratch.
404 pages always amuse me and you guys got very good collection here for inspiration.
thanks dkumar for your efforts.
Simply marvelous!!
feast full stuffed post. my favorite is #1, #5, #12, #27
I have a kinda creative 404 page, I think: http://blog.dotmariusz.net/404
Brilliant collection of 404 pages, i didn’t realise you can design these, so there are in keeping with your webdesign.
you miss this two! :)
1. http://laranzjoe.blogspot.com/2009/03/todays-3.html
2. http://laranzjoe.blogspot.com/2009/02/todays-fact-there-are-only-18-countries.html
in both those pages see the today’s funny heading! :)
Check mine : http://corpsetaccords.fr/404.php !!!
404 page : http://www.publicite-gratuite.fr/404
Anyone else notice that the link for #78 is dead and results in a 404 error…and not a customized one either.
Irony?
lawrence77 and Yopii, nice links :) thanks
Thanks back! :) Daniel Adams
Look at this one
http://404.syberplanet.net/
I keep meaning to customize the 404 page for one of my sites, but naturally I keep forgetting to do it. I’m inspired now though, and I think I’ll work on it when I get out from work!
Creative page
check out http://thewebmotel.com/404
Hi – here’s our MUSIC LESSONS 404: http://takelessons.com/error
Awesome collection, I also have my personal 404 not found.
http://www.digital-instruments.it/ita/404.php
There’s a great one here that uses a Mary Worth comic.
http://www.openendedadventure.com/404.html
Awesome collection you got here :)
Another Funny one
http://www.tatuarte.org/404.htm
wow these are really cool, I am going to create one for my own site now :)
You missed this one:
http://www.weirdworm.com/404
Great selection, better than the standard google web page or just dead link
thanks for sharing – I’ve recently just updated my own
http://blog.webdistortion.com/error404
Just added a 404 to my site: hhttp://damianherrington.co.uk/404.html
here’s another one: http://www.askia.com/404
i like web follow’s 404 page.
how can i use in my web site?
Beautiful page
Nice stuff! Thanks for sharing us.
I was inspired by the collection in this site and came up with this cool 404 page for my site – http://www.4utoc.com/not_found.php
I think to use these soicals site you can busy you life and find new people in life
I was inspired by the collection in this site and came up with this cool 404 page for my site – http://www.BreathePiano.com/error
Nice collection!
Here’s one more good one : http://anassin.com/404
You need more inspiration for your 404?
Check http://www.bonjour404.fr , every day a new amazing 404 error page!
Here is an example custom 404 page for you:
http://site-o-matic.net/404
Really cool collection here, we were inspired and created our own 404 here:
http://www.kitedigital.co.uk/404
very nice 404 error pages designs
Very nice ideas for web site owners. Thank you
Great colection. Very nice examples
Very nice ideas for web site owners. Thank you
I dont have a 404 error page on my site,
But this cool pages make me to have one.
Anyone need 404 pages, and here you can find just nice ideas that can be used
great collection
Well collected. Really a great inspiration for the budding designers, mainly to impress end-users with their creativity, when something goes wrong at client side.. :D i love it.
really nice 404 page http://page-flip.com/404/?begin
Some of them are really nice ones and I enjoy seeing different-different 404 pages.
hahaha love the humor in their 404 pages.. great!!
Neat! Thanks for sharing. My best would be the Ninja, the LOST BILLBOARD and SOUTHPART one;)
I’ve just made a cartoony one inspired by recent riots in London for my blog. Should you think it’s worth adding – I will be flattered
http://www.adobemagic.com/404.php
Name.com just pushed a new funny 404 Error Page http://www.name.com/error-404
they all were successful and interesting 404 page designs, a very successful and creative.
I would like to share with you my page 404:) Turkish, but I think the design is as beautiful. Design and coding was done with HTML5. :)
engintopcuoglu.com.tr/404
At our web design company we believe that a well designed and entertaining 404 page is essential to keeping visitors engaged in case of broken links.
More thoughts on the topic as well as our custom cartoon back40design.com/news/m.blog/22/404-error
I decided to give Traffic 404 Error Pages template for free. For those who want to customize the theme, I included the PSD file. mogoolab.com/portfolio/free-html-template-404-error-pages/ I would be glad to receive some feedback about this theme.
Here is my newly made page 404 mega-peklama.ru/404
Excellent resource of quality information, thanks a lot.
wow… nice 404 page…
Nice information about page 404, useful for my job…
I really appreciate your tips on 404 pages. I will make a custom 404 page for better navigation to site.
A new 404 from twitter : http://www.pimenteo.com/404
Nice post. Some of them are quite funny.
Thanks for sharing.