Error messages on most websites are extremely unhelpful. They look completely different
from the rest of the site, throw around technical jargon more freely than candy at a
parade, and rarely offer any way for a visitor to back out of the hole and find the content
they came looking for. The error screen in Figure 11-1 is actually a mild example: while it
eschews the unfriendly language, it remains decisively unhelpful. This section will discuss
why these error pages exist, how to customize them, and what content needs to be
included to make your visitors??™ lives as easy as possible.
Figure 11-1. This exceptionally unhelpful error screen is all too common in corporate
websites.
Crash course in status codes
When most people think of error pages, they think ???404,??? to the point where it has become
as common a term as browser or navigation. (???Hey, Chuck, your link??™s not working. All I get
is a 404.???) While a 404 is indeed a legitimate error, it is only the tip of the iceberg.
HTTP status response codes are part of the HTTP spec and are intended to give a short
description of the page??™s status??”whether it??™s good or bad, a problem on the server, or a
problem on the user??™s end.
Pages:
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