Why design for "404 not found" page needed? [closed]

Question

I want to know the advantage of 404 Not Found page. Why should one create a design for that ? Why not just set 404 header and redirect it to the home page with a message something like "What do you want of the URL? Please just walk into the website".

I figured many websites have a special page for the purpose. But why ?

Regards

Answer 1

404 Not Found

The 404 (Not Found) status code indicates that the origin server did not find a current representation for the target resource or is not willing to disclose that one exists. A 404 status code does not indicate whether this lack of representation is temporary or permanent; the 410 (Gone) status code is preferred over 404 if the origin server knows, presumably through some configurable means, that the condition is likely to be permanent.

Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP/1.1), section 6.5.4

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404 pages let users know that the page does not exist.

Many people will change the URL manually (for example, /pictures/page/1 to /pictures/page/2). If you redirect the user to the front page it will be confusing to them. What they expected to happen (either go to page 2 or get a "Page not found" error) will not happen; finding themselves on the front page is not useful.

The more important thing, however, is that users should ideally never see 404 pages. When they actually do see one, it should be very clear that the page does not exist. Redirecting them does not tell them that the page does not exist; it tells them that... it is the front page, which it should not be. It is confusing.

Another issue is that search engines may find it odd that a lot of your pages get redirected to your front page. It is not exactly how the internet is supposed to work, so they may actually penalize your website because of it.

If you want your users to have a good experience on your website then your 404 pages should attempt to help them find whatever they were looking for. Some things you can show the user are:

• A search box. Google has custom search boxes you can put on your website, which only search your site. If making your own is too complicated then this is a good solution.
• If you are able to do something like this, then showing the user content that may be similar to what they are looking for can be useful. Just make sure that it works reasonably well. For example if you cannot find anything similar then don't show random stuff -- it is not helpful.
• The newest content on the page. This is especially useful if it is a blog, news site, or some other kind of website that frequently gets new content.
• The most popular content. If the user is just browsing to pass the time then popular content may allow them to continue browsing without leaving your website.
• A link to or showing a sitemap may also be useful if the website is small enough to summarise on one page.

...and so on. Just try to think of what would be helpful to the user.

Answer 2

A good custom 404 page will help people find the information they're looking for, as well as providing other helpful content and encouraging them to explore your site further.

Moreover if you do not make your own custom page, the server's 404 error will be displayed which would not go by the design of your website. There are also negative elements which would try to access the unauthorized pages, and keeping a check of the same will give a sense of secured website.

What if you go in a departmental store and looking for a soap which actually is out of stock, but the store keeper just make you to start again from the section. Isin't the message not available is a better option? The same goes here