History of The 404 Error

HTTP stands for HyperText Transfer Protocol. It is invented by Tim Berners. HyperText is the type of text which is specially coded with the help of some standard coding language called HyperText Markup Language (HTML). HTTP/2 is the successor version of HTTP, which was published on May 2015. HTTP/3 is the latest version of HTTP, which is published in 2022.

Whether a specific HTTP request has been successfully completed is given by the HTTP response status codes. Responses are grouped into five classes. A 404 not found error is an HTTP status code that indicates that the browser was able to communicate with a given server, but the server could not find what was requested. This error may also occur if the URL is not recognized in the browser. The 404 error may also be sent from the server side to hide the existence of a resource from an unauthorized client instead of the 403 error. The 404 response code is probably the most well-known due to its frequent occurrence on the internet. 

Most websites dedicate a custom 404 web page which is rendered when 404 errors occur.

Causes of Error 404:

• If the content is deleted or moved to a different URL.
• The URL is typed incorrectly by the user.
• The requested domain name is no longer in use.
• The domain name system (DNS) cannot convert the requested domain name to an Internet Protocol (IP) address.

Advantages of Custom 404 Page:

It may be confusing for the user to land on a generic error page when they searched for something else. A custom 404-page takes away the confusion. It lets the user know that there is an error that might have occurred due to mistyping the URL or that the page they were looking for might not be available at the moment. A perfectly designed 404 page helps the user to go back to a relevant page of the site. You may also provide useful links on the custom 404 page which would help the user to navigate to other pages of the site. Generally, a “redirect to homepage” link is put in to redirect the user back to the main site. This would not be possible with the default 404 page and result in a bad user experience.