It is not difficult for a user to mistype the URL of a page on your site, nor is it completely out of the question that there may, from time to time, be a link or two that is not working on your site. Some users will also try to access directories which they do not have permission to view. Mostly in these situations users will be presnted with one or other of the dreaded standard error pages. This can make them feel that your site either does not exist or is somehow 'broken'. Not good! 

Custom error pages overcome this by presenting pages that are part of your site in this situation, preferably ones that are of some use to the lost user and will send them rapidly on to wherever it was they were trying to go in the first place.

How to Create Error Pages

Custom error pages are just standard HTML pages. You can create a directory in your site, call it 'errors' and in it place a page for each of the custom error pages you want to provide. Call these simple names for clarity - eg

error401.htm
error404.htm
error500.htm etc

This will make them much easier to find and edit in future. If you are using FrontPage these pages can be published in the normal way.

What to Add to Your Error Page

It is not difficult to make useful and helpful error pages. There are probably just 4 or 5 pages for which custom pages are useful, and it really helps if you can rephrase the standard error message for each in simple, clear, language using straight forward non-technical terms.

I have a text file with standard wording for these to which I return for each site, simply copying and pasting the standard messages into specific pages made for that site, with minimal editing to suit the individual site. You can get a copy of this file here.

I also generally include a simple site map, with links to the min site pages, in each error page. If you create the site map page as an include it is easy to keep your error pages automatically updated. You could also include a drop down menu with links to your main pages or a site search box.

The object of the exercise is to keep users on your site and take them as rapidly as possible to the page they were trying to find, so an error page is really an exercise in user reorientation.

>> Part II Serving Up Your Custom Errors