Webmaster Tip

How Can I ... Add a custom 404 page (file not found) page to my site?

What does 404 mean? 404 is an error message that means that the page you asked for has moved or been deleted, or that you have typed the address incorrectly.

You can ease the pain, when this happens by creating a custom 404 page. A "Custom 404 Not Found Page" is nothing more than a HTML page, that you design to look like the other pages of your Web site. This Custom 404 Page replaces the page the default one generated by your Web host.

Before you waste a lot of time learning about how to make a custom 404 error page, send an e-mail to your Web host and ask: (1) If they support custom 404 error page? (2) If yes, what procedures should you follow to implement one?

Rules for a Custom 404 Error Page:

1. You must have your own your own domain name.
2. It is up to your hosting service whether or not you will be able to implement your Custom 404 Error Page. But, most hosting services you pay for do support custom 404 error pages.

Assuming that your Web host supports custom 404 error pages, your next task is to create your 404 error page. See my 404 error page for an example.

Guidelines I suggest for your error page:

• Welcome your visitor and don't indicate they caused the error, it could be a bad link.
• Include your search feature for your site on this page.
• Ask your visitors to help you prevent future problems by sending you an e-mail link to you indicating the page they were seeking.
• Include your navigation bar (Nav Bar) on this page.
• Make sure your custom 404 error page is more than 512 bytes long (A byte is a single character.) Thus, your message must be longer than 512 characters long to have it displayed by a I.E. 5 browser.
• Name this page 404page.htm or 404page.html.

Before you proceed to the next step you need to determine the software you host is using. If you don't know visit this site Netcraft Uptime and enter your URL. For example, this site http://www.1stsitefree.com/ is running Microsoft-IIS/5.0 on Windows 2000.

If you're Web host is using Windows 2000 (IIS version 4 and up) to host your site, you'll have to ask your host's customer service to change this information for you. Just send them the URL of your 404 page, and ask them to set it as your custom 404 page.

If you're Web host is UNIX or Apache to host your site, you may or may not be able to implement a 404 custom 404 page yourself.

Send an e-mail to your Web host and ask: (1) If they support custom 404 error page? (2) If yes, what procedures should you follow to implement one?

If they say yes, but you have to do it yourself. Follow these instructions:

1. FTP to your host. Look for a file named .htaccess. If you find it, download the file to your home computer for editing. If the file is not there, you'll just have to create one.
2. If you found it, use your text editor and open it, or if you don't have a .htaccess file, open up a blank file. Type the following on the first line of the file (all one line):
   ErrorDocument 404 http://www.yourdomainname.com/404page.htm
   Replace yourdomainname.com with your domaim name.
3. Note: Window users may not be able to create a file named .htaccess. Instead, create a file named htaccess.txt, FTP it to your site, and then rename it .htaccess.
4. FTP your 404page.htm (404page.html) and .htaccess file to your Website.
5. Test your 404page.htm (404page.html) and e-mail link to you.