What Are Error Pages?
The 404 page is a page returned by the server when the client is not able to provide information normally when browsing the webpage, or the server cannot respond without knowing the reason. It is said that before the third technological revolution, the form of the Internet was a large central database, which was set up in Room 404. At that time, all requests were completed manually. If the file required by the requester was not found in the database, or because the requester wrote the wrong file number, the user would get a return message: room 404: file not found . The 404 error message is usually the page displayed after the target page is changed or removed, or the client enters the page address incorrectly, and people are used to using 404 as the error code for the server not finding the file. Of course, the actual research of the legendary room 404 does not exist. In the three-digit return code of the http request, the beginning of 4 represents a client error and the beginning of 5 represents a server-side error.
- 1. Avoid dead links
- After setting up a 404 page on the website, if a dead link appears on the website, when a search engine spider crawls such a URL and gets a "404" status response, it knows that the URL has expired, it will no longer index the page, and feedback to the data center that the URL indicates Pages are deleted from the index database. Avoid affecting site inclusion due to dead links.
- 2. Improve user experience
- A 404 page is usually a user who visits a page that does not exist or has been deleted on the website. The server returns a 404 error page, telling the viewer that the requested page does not exist or the link is wrong, and guides the user to use other pages on the website instead of closing the window. Eliminate user frustration.
- 3. Avoid falling trust
- It is a more frequent error when visiting the WWW website. The most common error message: 404 NOT FOUND. The 404 page is the page that is returned when the user enters the wrong link.
- Why you need a 404 error page
- When a search engine spider gets a "404" status response when requesting a URL, that is, knowing that the URL has expired, it no longer indexes the webpage, and feedbacks to the data center to delete the webpage represented by the URL from the index database, so Generated a 404 error page. The existence of 404 pages is not only a feedback for users visiting the website, but also plays an important role in search engines. [1]
- Cause type
- The HTTP 404 error means that the webpage pointed to by the link does not exist, that is, the URL of the original webpage is invalid. This often happens and it is difficult to avoid, for example: the URL generation rule of the webpage is changed, the webpage file is renamed or moved,
- Restore the missing web files to the correct location and reset the network service. For the user, you need to check what you have entered
- The purpose of the 404 page is to tell the viewer that the page they requested does not exist or link incorrectly, and to guide the user to leave using other pages of the website instead of closing the window.
- Many open source systems, including CMS systems and blog systems, do not provide 404 pages or provide 404 pages that do not meet SEO requirements, which greatly reduces the authority of the website.
- Customizing the 404 error page is a good way to enhance the user experience, but it is generally not noticed during the application process.
- Customizing the 404 error page is a good way to enhance the user experience. However, the impact of the 404 page on search engines is often not noticed during the application process. For example, incorrect server-side configuration results in a status code of "200" or custom 404 error page using Meta Refresh results in a "302" status code.
- 404 is an http error code, that is, the requested web page does not exist. The first "4" of the code 404 represents a client error, such as the wrong web page location, and the latter two numeric codes represent a specific error message. The 404 page is the page returned when the user enters the wrong link or visits a non-existent address, the purpose is to tell the viewer that the page they requested does not exist or the link is wrong, and guide the user to use other pages on the website instead of closing the window go away.
- When we visit a website, if a wrong URL address is entered, or the page of this address has been deleted, then the server will return a page, which is what we call a 404 page. This happens often and it is difficult to avoid. For example, the URL generation rules of the webpage are changed, the webpage file is renamed or moved, and the import link is misspelled. As a result, the original URL address cannot be accessed. When the web server receives a similar request, it will return a 404 status code to tell the browser to The requested resource does not exist.
- The 404 error page is a part of the website browsing, so its experience is always relevant to the entire website. When users see a "sorry" or "error" similar 404 error page, their frustration increases rapidly, but their trust quickly decreases. To the best of our ability to retain users on this site as a 404 error page.
- When people find their point of interest in the webpage, then we have reached what we call the "peak of the law"
- "Peak", webpage browsing is a process from beginning to end, so the user's experience of operating the page is continued to close.
- Close the page or a custom 404 error page to navigate, so I hope that users will have a kind of
- Good experience, 404 page as a possible "end" of a website, hoping to reduce the negative value of user experience as much as possible, and instead
- Into a positive experience value for users browsing the website, retaining users, and enhancing the stickiness of the website for users.
- Case analysis of foreign 404 error pages
- 1.Google
- Google includes basic error prompts and problem descriptions, and the concise style is as usual.
- 2.NOKIA
- Randomly posted a playful picture on NOKIA's 404 page, plus a few key "comfort words", instantly relieved the user's tension and immediately gave a solution below.
- The value of this page: (1) Tell the user the environment: an error occurred. (2) Tell the user the cause of the error. (3) Dispel user tension. (4) Tell the user how to solve the problem and give several ways. (5) Retain users and increase user stickiness. Although users may not get satisfactory results, the mission of this 404 error page has been completed and it is well done.
- Other excellent 404 error page cases abroad
- A well-designed 404 error page can help you avoid losing user trust, potentially building your user relationship and retaining your users, making them spend more time browsing your site. The 404 error page uses a humorous approach to make the user smile, and to add a humorous plot to the error, will you still be angry about the small error on the 404 page? The page design retains the basic elements of this site, making it appear to be part of the site, so that when users are at a loss, they can remember that they did not leave the site. Use a relaxing way to convey a relaxed mood to users. Eliminate bad moods of users and ask for forgiveness in an intimate manner. The 404 error page wins with exquisiteness, and the well-designed will often attract users to stop. When the user is moved by the exquisite webpage, he can't bear to close the page.
- The 404 page design uses actual objects as elements, with a sense of realism, so that users have a feeling of being immersive. Give users useful links, avoid being too monotonous and too technical, and make users confused (Figure 10). Pull the user back with rich design, and report the cause of the error or provide contact information at the same time, try to reduce the user's frustration as much as possible, and reduce those boring and useless information. Add suggestions to let users follow you, and use clear guidance to direct users to specific pages.
- Case analysis of domestic 404 error pages
- QQ Dictionary uses humorous language and friendly sticker pictures to dispel the user's frustration, and the style is similar to the foreign 404 page design. CSDN page design is some boring and useless information, which burdens users. To sum up, foreign countries are in full swing with the design of 404 pages, while only a small part of the domestic attention, or no attention at all, the current domestic Internet is in the growth stage, 404 error pages are in the process of learning.
- Ideas for a good 404 error page user experience
- Cognitive psychologist Donald A. Norman breaks down human behavior into 76 stages:
- 1. Determine your goals.
- 2. Determine your intent.
- 3. Define action content.
- 4. Execution.
- 5. Perceive external conditions.
- 6. Explain the external situation.
- And these 76 stages occur in every action that humans take. The author applies it to 404 error page browsing. The seven or six steps are the user experience process. Any problem or too late in the middle will affect the user experience. Think of users as advocating simple, fussy, dull, and busy people who can type less and input less, click less and click less, and think less and think less; and any product should be a good one Be considerate, warm, tolerant, secure, easy to understand and communicate. Sometimes, in order not to give users unnecessary interference, many pressures and responsibilities must be silently carried out in the background. The value of the website is "can help users complete a certain task and get a certain experience". At the same time, the design of the website "100% minus one" is used to design navigation. . Therefore, the 404 error page cannot be ignored. Its quality directly affects the user's "peak end" experience for the entire page browsing process. Summarizing the above case analysis, the author summarizes the concepts that a good 404 error page user experience should follow: (1) The overall page design maintains a sense of unity at all times, and even if an error occurs, the user eliminates the sense of error and understands that he is still on the website. (2) Provide a clear description of the problem, use easy and humorous words to eliminate the frustration of the user, reduce the frustration of the user, and make the visitor go to a place instead of exiting in the easy guidance of the page. (3) Display a personalized and friendly interactive interface to improve a good access experience. (4) Provide appropriate solutions to assist users to complete their final visit goals and prevent users from having a fear of 404 error pages.
- There are two cases here.
- Creative 404 page design (27 photos)