Friendly 500 Error Message Examples
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500 Error Page Template
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Funny 500 Error Pages
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500 Error Page Best Practices
up and rise to the top How to create a useful 500 internal server error page up vote 40 down vote favorite 18 I'm trying to create a useful HTTP Error 500 Internal server error page and the recommendations I have found and the live examples I have stumpled upon use a very simple layout. They basically include: a logo a headline a message and a couple of solutions github 500 page how to fix it such as reload the page, come back later or contact the webmaster. What are the reasons not to also include the main site navigation or a search bar so that the visitor could find another page on the website? Is it technical or is it just to keep an focus on the error message? error-message errors share|improve this question edited Jan 12 '12 at 4:59 Erics 7,10133571 asked Jan 10 '12 at 11:20 Tony Bolero 4,20511851 Please please please Alert the web master yourself. you've just created an Error catching website and shown it to the user and then ask the User to contact the web master. –Barfieldmv Jan 10 '12 at 13:42 1 You mean it's rude? :) I believe the best way is to automatically send an email to the webmaster with the details (as I asked about here - webmasters.stackexchange.com/q/24386/12031) –Tony Bolero Jan 10 '12 at 13:56 If at all possible present a meaningful error message if there is a reason for the 500. Many sites that have common 500s know why they have a problem. Fark.com has a custom error message which, erm, caters to both their admins and users. –Ben Br
of your website right now.Get Free Report AllWeb PerformanceHow to GuidesNew FeaturesNewsEngineeringVideos Categories ▾AllEngineeringHow to GuidesNew FeaturesNewsVideosWeb Performance 15 Awesome Fail Pages Eileen Flaherty—17 Jul 2012 Downtime occurs more often than most businesses like to admit. http://rigor.com/blog/2012/07/15-awesome-fail-pages In fact, according to studies by the Aberdeen Research Group, the average website is out of business 8 days a year. This makes for 192 hours of http://stackoverflow.com/questions/194537/how-does-one-write-good-error-messages 500 error messages from any given site, resulting in Internet users frequently experiencing feelings of anger, stress, and animosity - not exactly the customer experience businesses tend to 500 error aim for.Although downtime is difficult to avoid altogether, limiting its impact is feasible. In addition to being transparent about downtime and monitoring your site so that you can be alerted of issues as quickly as possible, having a humorous, clever, or visually appealing 500 error page may help to soften the blow when your site is 500 error page unavailable. Although the ultimate goal is that users will never see your 500 error page, in the case that something does go wrong (because something will go wrong), it can't hurt to give frustrated users something pretty to look at as they frantically click the refresh button in hopes of gaining access to your site.To recognize sites that have attempted to make the downtime experience slightly more bearable, we've compiled a gallery of our 15 favorite 500 error pages (in no particular order) for your viewing pleasure. If your business has an awesome error page that hasn't been included, or if we've left someone out, feel free to let us know. We'd love to hear your comments!1. LivingSocial2. atizo3. Giant Bomb4. GitHub5. hootsuite6. LinkedIn7. Opera Portal8. Clickscape9. Twitter (popularized the fail whale)10. YouTube11. Qype12. Twingly13. Digg14. iStockphotoFor more diversion, check out Mashable's 35 Entertaining 404 Error Pages.Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Click to share
here for a quick overview of the site Help Center Detailed answers to any questions you might have Meta Discuss the workings and policies of this site About Us Learn more about Stack Overflow the company Business Learn more about hiring developers or posting ads with us Stack Overflow Questions Jobs Documentation Tags Users Badges Ask Question x Dismiss Join the Stack Overflow Community Stack Overflow is a community of 4.7 million programmers, just like you, helping each other. Join them; it only takes a minute: Sign up How does one write good error messages? up vote 36 down vote favorite 19 While this is more of a written language issue than a coding one, it is something that programmers must do in circumstances where copy is not provided by a client or someone else. Any examples of error messages, good or bad, are welcome to make the point. I briefly searched and could not find a dupe thread. Ok, have at it. Thanks, all. usability custom-errors share|improve this question edited May 2 '12 at 10:33 Mr Lister 25k85381 asked Oct 11 '08 at 20:05 MrBoJangles 6,014134568 1 @[Thohan]: just create a boy-scout tag ;-) –Steven A. Lowe Oct 15 '08 at 16:35 1 Check out this guide from Microsoft, comes with examples and best practices. –user509209 Nov 16 '10 at 7:46 add a comment| 16 Answers 16 active oldest votes up vote 25 down vote Apologise. Say what went wrong. Say how to resolve it. Be polite. The message should be worded so that the application accepts responsibility for the problem. Never blame or criticize the user or make them think it's their fault. Example: "Sorry, the file could not be opened. Please check that the file is not already opened by another program and try again." If there are additional details that would scare the user such as an error number or something else only a developer would understand, don't show them. Write them to a log file, or have a details button that can be pressed to get to them. I'm assuming you're talking about showing error messages to users in message boxes or on screen. share|improve this answer edited Oct 11 '08 at 22:05 answered Oct 11 '08 at 20:35 Scott Langham 28.1k2493149 3 Don't overdo the obsequiousness. How does a user check that a file is not already opened by another program? I really hate alert messages that force me to push "OK" when it is anything but OK in my view. –Jonathan Leffler Oct 11 '08 at 20:45 2 You're picking up on my specific example. I think the points I've raised apply in general. For this specific example, if you have better wording, please share it. If this occurred while trying to open a