Often, on the web, links break or users type in the wrong URL. Sometimes pages go AWOL. At this point a 404 page is displayed, and I thought I’d compile a few of the more recent ones that I’ve spotted.
The thing with 404 pages is that they are often overlooked and uncared for. Ours is in need of a humour injection, though it ticks some of the more important best practice boxes by including a search tool, sitemap and link to the homepage.
Based on many of these examples, this post should be filed under inspiration, as opposed to best practice, though if you are going to revamp your own 404 page then be sure to help users dig their way out of the hole they’ve fallen into.
Briefly, best practice consists of:
- Speaking in the right language (avoid error messages like the plague)
- Useful navigation (provide the user with some easy options to stay on your website)
- A search box (prompt the user to conduct a keyword search to find replacement pages)
- The right branding (the page should look like the rest of your website)
- Tracking (figure out common entry routes to spot and fix broken links, etc)
If you want to dig deeper then check out this post on 404 pages and best practice (contains some other examples).
A word of warning: some of the following pages will blast techno music through your speakers. Brace yourself.
1. Blippy's ‘It’s a 404 yo’
2. Soundserum's bouncing elephant
3. Teeh.me's Who’s Line Is It Anyway trance dance
4. Github's Star Wars inspired wobbly 404
5. I Plan Websites' scrollfest
6. Blizzard's “You broke it.”
7. The most insane 404 experience on the web
8. Mint's “Justin likes reheated pizza and awkward silence…”
9. Fruit GS' ‘Dead link’ + 8-bit death noise
10. Archit's giftastic tilting page
11. Frye / Wiles' birds on a wire
12. Abduzeedo's 'Houston, we have a problem.'
13. Annual Design Awards 'Turn Around'
14. Steve Lambert's awkwardness
15. Blue Fountain Media's Pac Man game
16. The BBC's retro test card
I'll also put in an honourable mention for B3ta's thoroughly NSFW 404 page. Proceed with caution if nuns are in the vicinity.
There are plenty of other great / interesting / bizarre examples out in the wild. Please point to them in the comments area below...
Reader comments (39)
12:48PM on 4th April 2012
Some great creative ideas here. I did check the date of the post 4th April when I saw the bouncing elephants, as for a moment, I wondered if it should have been 1st April....
I think Architweb's page gets my vote if they really do change it every day then that is a testamnrt to their ingenuity!
1:01PM on 4th April 2012
Some nice ones there! Love the Steve Lambert one!
Here's our 404 page: http://www.wiredcanvas.com/404 - leaking brain juice...
1:02PM on 4th April 2012
I do love these, on ours we featured, Nate Dogg - Oh No,
http://www.averagejoesblog.com/404
2:36PM on 4th April 2012
Love this Chris. 404 as linkbait is also a brilliant reason to do something genuinely interesting. Mint's is still my all time fave. Here's ours. Bloody 'creatives': ) http://www.contentandmotion.co.uk/getmethatbloodywebpageplz
9:52AM on 5th April 2012
Great set of pages Chris.
A lovely one we came across recently was on Accessories Online's ecommerce site:
http://www.accessoriesonline.co.uk/lost
Oh, ok then here's ours too!
http://www.openplus.co.uk/lost
9:55AM on 5th April 2012
Great set of pages Chris.
A lovely one we came across recently was on Accessories Online's ecommerce site:
http://www.accessoriesonline.co.uk/lost
Oh, ok then here's ours too!
http://www.openplus.co.uk/lost
Owner at Nordcomm Consulting
1:50PM on 5th April 2012
Good post Chris. Inspiring.
Another way to use 404 pages is utilizing them for a social campaign.
Here's a Polish example: http://serwisy.gazeta.pl/404/0,0.html
This is a 404 page of one of Poland's most popular web portals. The space is used to display pictures of missing people along with contact information of a charity that helps look for them.
You might question whether displaying the pictures is likely to be effective in finding these people but I think it does the job as an awareness rising element.
2:33PM on 5th April 2012
An often very creative part of a web project that can be overlooked. And a very good point about viewing their entry paths to find broken links.
Here's ours...
http://www.pixelbuilders.com/404
Head of Online at Sodexo Prestige
3:33PM on 5th April 2012
Here's our cringe inducing 404 for Olympic catering recruitment campaign, BeMoreThanASpectator.com. http://www.bemorethanaspectator.com/404
Personally, I like the unicorn.
Digital Marketing Manager at The Hideaways Club
3:38PM on 5th April 2012
I love these, they are always guaranteed to raise a smile!
Digital Marketing Executive at Koozai Ltd
3:43PM on 5th April 2012
I love this sort of post. Those examples are a lot different to the usual custom designs. I have a question though, what is it with creating an out-there funny 404 page? Just one of those things us internet people do? No point in doing it for the links ;)
4:50PM on 5th April 2012
Why is there no distilled 404 on that page!!!
http://www.distilled.net/w45344sdfsrgs
Digital Marketing Executive at Koozai Ltd
9:15AM on 10th April 2012
That Distilled one is very nice Jim, especially when Will and Duncan dressed up in real life.
1:53PM on 27th April 2012
Since we're building mobile apps, here's ours :)
http://www.mobiversal.com/404.html
11:59AM on 1st May 2012
Here's another good 404 page
http://www.buyapowa.com/404
11:23AM on 4th May 2012
I love your creativity but Here's another good 404 page, i think you like guys
http://www.raspberryketone.webs.com
6:43AM on 10th May 2012
Check out http://www.lingscars.com/404 from a website voted amongst the worst in the world. Classic!
8:11AM on 13th May 2012
That Distilled one is very nice Jim, especially when Will and Duncan dressed up in real life.
10:27PM on 22nd May 2012
They all look nice but when someone is looking for something they may not want a laugh, I find that having a link to the homepage and maybe a related page is much better than a picture of a cute puppy.
PR Professional at Digital Lunch
3:11PM on 23rd May 2012
Love Justin's page, simply hilarious!
12:09PM on 1st June 2012
Some very cool ones! I quite like mine too (if I'm allowed to be biased) - used it to poke fun at the 'hipster' connotations of our brand:
http://www.somethingindie.com/newws.html
11:01AM on 24th June 2012
Cool ones! I quite like mine too (if I'm allowed to be biased) - used it to poke fun at the 'hipster' connotations of our brand:
10:36AM on 1st August 2012
That Distilled one is very nice Jim, especially when Will and Duncan dressed up in real life.
9:09AM on 17th August 2012
Best 404 ever found: http://duckiedeck.com/page404/
12:25AM on 25th August 2012
hey many thanks, I love these, they are always guaranteed to raise a smile!
9:55PM on 6th September 2012
i think you like guys
9:25AM on 7th September 2012
i think you like guys
12:54PM on 10th September 2012
Really, Cool staff, i really like this one (The BBC's retro test card). i am also Going to update it in my Website....
3:16PM on 23rd September 2012
Hehe, those are some great 404 examples.
I work at an IT department, and in many cases the fault is user-generated (i.e. the user does something wrong and blame the computer/IT dep) - so ITDBs 404 is a bit inspired from my fellow co-workers. Example: http://it-db.com/404 :)
5:15PM on 7th December 2012
and in many cases the fault is user-generated
10:47PM on 9th January 2013
and in many cases the fault is user-generated
7:41AM on 16th January 2013
That Distilled one is very nice Jim, especially when Will and Duncan dressed up in real life.
7:22AM on 19th January 2013
I love these, they are always guaranteed to raise a smile!
9:49AM on 30th January 2013
That Distilled one is very nice Jim, especially when Will and Duncan dressed up in real life.
3:04PM on 1st February 2013
thanks
7:15PM on 1st March 2013
çok güzelmış
4:59AM on 7th March 2013
LOL... some of these are really funny.. I will keep this URL in mind when I see someone griping about 404s in other forums... That way I will look so smart directing them to something that they might find really useful. Thanks for a useful post..
10:57AM on 15th March 2013
That Distilled one is very nice Jim, especially when Will and Duncan dressed up in real life.
4:16PM on 29th March 2013
This is one of the best compilations I have come across. Most of the pages are really cool!!
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