Often a situation arises in which the browser displays a 404 error message instead of a specific page. People react differently: some people don’t notice, others get angry, others get scared. What is 404 not found, why is there a similar problem? When there is no page that a person wants to see, this message is displayed. Few people know that in honor of 404 not found projects were created on the Internet, entire catalogs, competitions were organized. First, let's figure out what Error 404 is when it appears. If you look from the technical side, the browser is contacted by the server, which sends the code status of the requested page. If the request is processed correctly, then this corresponds to the “200 OK” code. Users see the requested page of the website. In the case when the request is processed with errors, people see a message with the status 404 not found.
What do the numbers in error 404 mean?
Not everyone knows that the first digit indicates an error in the client program (browser). It is assumed that the URL does not exist or is typed incorrectly. Zero indicates syntax problems. The last digit refers to the 40x error variant, which includes, in addition to the status 404 not found, 401 unauthorized and 400 bad request.
An interesting myth about error 404
There is a funny myth about error 404, according to which, in the scientific center involved in the development of the World Wide Web, there was a room with the same number, located on the fourth floor. At a certain point, the amount of information that was processed exceeded all permissible norms; several scientists could not turn to the same document at the same time. And then the developers came up with the idea of making an error message notifying that the file was not found.
CERN scientists themselves refute this. They claim that there was no such room. It is worth noting that it is impossible to never meet error 404 not found. There is another reason for the appearance of such an error. In Russia, Internet connection via dial-up (telephone connection) is quite common. If communication with the provider is poor, an error 404 appears.
Ways to solve the problemWhat can be done so that the 404 page not found message does not scare users, how can this be avoided? Are there any solutions to the problem? For owners of web resources, it is important that there are no broken links. This is easy with a static site with no more than 10 pages. If the Internet resource is large, there is a lot of content in it, it is difficult to constantly keep everything under control. Sooner or later, a link to a page that no longer exists will appear. Yes, and the user himself can enter an incorrect address. It is important to make a good page reporting a 404 error. It should not scare site visitors. Information on the error itself must be indicated on it so that people understand why they are here. You can also place on it a piece of information that the user could search for. For example, instructions, search form. Make links to interesting articles on your site on it, do not forget to mention the address of the main page of the resource. The feedback form also does not hurt.
Decorate everything with humor so that the user smiles! Then it will less frighten people who first encountered such a mistake. The friendliness of the site is very important, it is necessary that people have a desire to go to your Internet resource, and a large number of errors that are not properly designed can annoy visitors. If the site owner knows that people can search for the page that has been moved, you need to redirect to the new address, warning about the movement of users. It is necessary that the 404 error page opens. To do this:
- make this page, name it, for example, "404.htm";
- create a folder in the root, write it in .htaccess;
- put the error page there;
- write in .htaccess ErrorDocument 404 / error / 404.htm.
All of these steps will avoid the message not found on the pages of your site.