We have all clicked on a link, or typed a URL in the address bar and had that old "File Not Found" page appear.

As a web site grows some pages are moved to a new URL or simply deleted. It may be that the information is out of date, or it may be a service/product you no longer offer. But people may try to access these pages from links in search engines or from other sites that link to them. When they click on the link (or type the URL in wrong) all they get is the old ugly default error message "File Not Found".

First off the page is not real pretty, but more importantly it doesn't give the potential visitor (customer) many choices. The chances are they will just say "The heck with it" and move on to someone elses (a competitor) site.

No "File Not Found" errors on your site.... just take a look at the "404 File Not Found" errors in your server logs.

The solution to this is to create a "Custom 404 Error" page.

A good 404 page states you are sorry for the error and explains that the specific page they were looking for may have been moved or no longer exists. The page then offers them other alternatives (links) to continue browsing your site. It can be as simple as a link to your homepage, or a navigation bar to the major sections of the site. It could be a sitemap or a site search feature.

Click on the link to this "None Existing Page" to view my custom 404 error page. http://www.mompswebdesign.com/nopage.html

Notice instead of the old ugly default 404, "File Not Found", you actually stay within the Momp's Web Design website. So instead of the visitor moving on to another site, the have the ability to browse the site.

NOTE: Your web host must support this feature, most paid web hosts allow you to create a custom 404 page. If hosted on a free server that uses their own default error page then you may not be able to create one.

Creating a Custom 404 Error Page

Step 1: Create your "Custom 404 Error Page", which is nothing more than a basic HTML page. Name it "404_page.html" or whatever you wish, and upload it to the root directory of your server.

Step 2: Open Notepad and type or paste this one line. ErrorDocument 404 http://www.your_domain_name.com/404_page.html

Save the file as ".htaccess" (less the quotation marks) and upload it to the root directory on your server.

Set the file permissions for ".htaccess" to CHMOD 644 (read-write/read/read) For more information on setting file permissions see: http://216.147.98.109/support_permissions.html

NOTES:

1.. Change the URL to reflect that of your "Custom 404" page, and be sure there is space before and after the "404".

2.. If your server already has a ".htaccess" file just add the above line at the end of the file.

3.. Notepad will not let you save a file using just the file extension .htaccess, it requires a name. So name the file 404.htaccess, upload it to the server, set the file permissions, and then rename it to ".htaccess".

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Larry(Momp) owns Momp's Web Design and MWD News newsletter. In addition to the fee-based web design service, it is his goal to provide free design info, web tools, content, and services to help you build and promote your site.

Momp's Web Design: http://www.mompswebdesign.com

MWD Newsletter:
http://www.mompswebdesign.com/mwdnews.html

Contact Momp: mailto:momp@mompswebdesign.com