404 Error Pages: What Are They And How Do You Create One?

We've all seen them, you've been browsing a website and you click a link and nothing loads apart from the words '404 Error' along with the usual stuff.

So what is a 404 Error page? The 404 Error page, basically informs the user that the server cannot find the file they are looking for. However, instead of using the default 404 Error page you can create your own, this is how you do it.

First, you need your .htaccess file which should be within your web site directory. If you cannot find it you will need to create one. You will have to contact your host asking them how you would go about creating or editing this file. They may want you to use a text editor and then upload it, or they may want you to use a PICO editor and create or edit the file on the server.

How you have access to the .htaccess file lets edit it. Add this line to the .htaccess file:

ErrorDocument 404 http://www.yourdomain.com/404page.html

Make sure this line is kept on online. This is where your 404 Error page is kept.

Now you've change the .htaccess file you need to create the page. This is simply a normal HTML document. Once you've created the HTML document, save it and call it 404page.html. Now the next step is to upload the .htaccess file and the page to the server.

Now that is done your next step is to turn it on. This is done by setting the CHMOD attribute to 644. You can do this via telnet or some FTP programs. If your going to telnet into your server, use the following command:

chmod 644 .htaccess

Now test to see if it's worked. Just go to a page that doesn't exist on your server and you should see your new 404 Error page. If not, then make sure the CHMOD is set correctly, and if that doesn't help, you may want to ask your hosting company for support.

About The Author

I currently own and run a small E-commerce template website located at http://www.sjh-designs.co.uk. You can find several more guides located at http://www.sjh-designs.co.uk/guides.htm.

Latest News


Personal Tech: Military launches TroopTube
Salt Lake Tribune, United States - Nov 17, 2008
Members can upload personal videos from anywhere with an Internet connection, but a Pentagon employee screens each for taste, copyright violations and ...

Personal Tech: Tennesee boasts world's fastest unclassified computer
Salt Lake Tribune, United States - Nov 17, 2008
AP The Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tenn. released this photograph Nov. 10 showing some of the 284 computer cabinets ...

Jamaica Gleaner

Is your broker, motor insurer tech savvy?
Jamaica Gleaner, Jamaica - 7 hours ago
Tim Ryles, PhD, in an article dated September 2008 - 'The Insurer's Duty at the Outset of a Personal Lines Claim' - wrote that the United States Supreme ...

TV's Interactive Future Arrives Today, Combining Social Media With ...
MarketWatch - Nov 21, 2008
An irreverent weekly tech/web culture show hosted by tech geeks/pop culture gurus Alex Albrecht and Kevin Rose, Diggnation was launched in 2005. ...
Interactive Multi-Cam Video Feed Almost Steals Kevin Rose's Digg ... Wired News
all 9 news articles

New York Daily News

A rank way to decide conference
Yahoo! Sports - 2 hours ago
The Big 12 failed to come up with enough of its own criteria for breaking a three-way tie at the top of the standings, as Oklahoma, Texas and Texas Tech ...
Texas Tech Red Raiders @ Oklahoma Sooners Crimson and Cream Machine
Former players recall Tech’s outright conference title Houston Chronicle
No. 2 Texas Tech's defense gaining respect International Herald Tribune
RedRaiders.com - FOXSports.com
all 1,226 news articles

Personal Tech: Black Friday is a bright day for gadget lovers
Salt Lake Tribune, United States - Nov 17, 2008
The day after Thanksgiving, also known as "Black Friday," is one of the biggest shopping days of the year because that's when stores introduce hot deals for ...

MiamiHerald.com

On College Football: If Texas Tech slips, dominoes will fall
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA - Nov 22, 2008
By Ray Parrillo The 2008 darling of college football, second-ranked Texas Tech, can take one more step toward the BCS championship game tonight when it ...
College Football Preview: I've Got a Crush on Mike Leach Deadspin
all 138 news articles

15 Tech Secrets for the Serious Road Warrior
PC World - Nov 21, 2008
In the past, we've described how to accomplish more with popular online tools like Google Calendar, with text-messaging utilities like Web-based personal ...

Product Reviews

Nvidia to offer parallel tech for mobile devices
NetworkWorld.com, MA - Nov 19, 2008
Nvidia announced Tuesday a GPU-based Tesla Personal Supercomputer, which it said uses its Tesla GPUs and Cuda to deliver the power of a cluster of computers ...
Thanks to gamers, the desktop supercomputer arrives Computerworld
Tokyo Tech Builds First Tesla GPU Based Heterogeneous Cluster to ... MarketWatch
nVIDIA launches Tesla supercomputer Hindu
DigiTimes - Reg Hardware
all 216 news articles

Solutions: How to rip music from a DVD
Tampabay.com, FL - Nov 21, 2008
Send questions to personaltech@sptimes.com or Personal Tech, PO Box 1121, St. Petersburg, FL 33731. Questions are answered only in this column.

Resources


    Sorry there are no resources available at this time