Custom Error Pages .htaccess
be getting into progressively more advanced stuff after this. Successful Client Requests 200 OK 201 Created 202 Accepted 203 Non-Authorative Information 204 No Content 205 Reset Content 206 Partial Content Client Request Redirected 300 Multiple Choices 301 Moved Permanently 302 Moved Temporarily 303 See Other 304 Not Modified 305 Use Proxy Client Request Errors 400 Bad Request 401 Authorization Required 402 Payment Required (not used yet) 403 Forbidden 404 Not Found 405 Method Not Allowed 406 Not Acceptable (encoding) 407 Proxy Authentication Required 408 Request Timed Out 409 Conflicting Request 410 Gone 411 Content Length Required 412 Precondition Failed 413 Request Entity Too Long 414 Request URI Too Long 415 Unsupported Media Type Server Errors 500 Internal Server Error 501 Not Implemented 502 Bad Gateway 503 Service Unavailable 504 Gateway Timeout 505 HTTP Version Not Supported In order to specify your own ErrorDocuments, you need to be slightly familiar with the server returned error codes. (List to the right). You do not need to specify error pages for all of these, in fact you shouldn't. An ErrorDocument for code 200 would cause an infinite loop, whenever a page was found...this would not be good. You will probably want to create an error document for codes 404 and 500, at the least 404 since this would give you a chance to handle requests for pages not found. 500 would help you out with internal server errors in any scripts you have running. You may also want to consider ErrorDocuments for 401 - Authorization Required (as in when somebody tries to enter a protected area of your site without the proper credentials), 403 - Forbidden (as in when a file with permissions not allowing it to be accessed by the user is requested) and 400 - Bad Request, which is
Articles Code Recommended Most Popular .htaccess Error Documents for Beginners Apache allows you to customize the server at the directory level, using .htaccess files. This tutorial explains how to use them to serve custom 404 error (page not found), and other common error pages, to your users. In Apache, you can set up each directory on your server individually, giving them different properties or requirements for access. And while you can do this through normal Apache configuration, some hosts may wish to give users the ability to set http://www.javascriptkit.com/howto/htaccess2.shtml up their own virtual server how they like. And so we have .htaccess files, a way to set Apache directives on a directory by directory basis without the need for direct server access, and without being able to affect other directories on the same server. One up-side of this (amongst many) is that with a few short lines in an https://www.addedbytes.com/articles/for-beginners/error-documents-for-beginners/ .htaccess file, you can tell your server that, for example, when a user asks for a page that doesn't exist, they are shown a customized error page instead of the bog-standard error page they've seen a million times before. If you visit http://www.addedbytes.com/random_made_up_address then you'll see this in action - instead of your browser's default error page, you see an error page sent by my server to you, telling you that the page you asked for doesn't exist. This has a fair few uses. For example, my 404 (page not found) error page also sends me an email whenever somebody ends up there, telling me which page they were trying to find, and where they came from to find it - hopefully, this will help me to fix broken links without needing to trawl through mind-numbing error logs. [Aside: If you set up your custom error page to email you whenever a page isn't found, remember that "/favicon.ico" requests failing doesn't mean that a page is missing. Internet Explorer 5 assumes everyone has a "favicon" and so asks the
- sql HTML & Graphics Tutorials getting started backgrounds buttons browser specific colors forms frames html 4.01 tags html 4.01 ref image maps tables web graphics Beyond HTML asp cascading style sheets css keyword ref cgi scripting developer research center dhtml/layers dot net java applets javascript javascript http://www.htmlgoodies.com/beyond/reference/article.php/3472591/How-Do-I-Create-a-Custom-404-Error-Page.htm frameworks javascript keyword ref javascript script tips mobile web development open source cms php security http://www.thesitewizard.com/archive/custom404.shtml SEO vb script keyword ref webmaster tips webmaster projects webmaster toolbox video xml general reference pieces the master list Need Help? discussion boards mentors Post a comment Email Article Print Article Share Articles Reddit Facebook Twitter del.icio.us Digg Slashdot DZone StumbleUpon FriendFeed Furl Newsvine Google LinkedIn MySpace Technorati YahooBuzz How Do I Create a Custom 404 Error Page? By Joe Burns Tweet Ah, the custom error aggravating 404 error page. You've seen it. There you are, surfing in your favorite search engine when you happen upon just the thing you're looking for. You click: (***Raspberry Sound Effect***) Nothing but a white page with the words "404 Error" and some other techie-sounding speak beneath. What's even more cheesy about the error code is that it really doesn't tell you what the problem is. Basically you've been informed that the server cannot find what you want. It doesn't custom error pages tell you why, how to fix it, or where to go from that point. You really don't have much choice but to hit your BACK button, call the computer a dirty name, and try again. But then you see it--a server that's set up with its own special 404 error page that politely apologizes and offers you links to e-mail site administrators and maybe a site search engine. Now that's class! So I waltzed into the office of the Webmaster at work and asked how it was done. I was stunned at how easy it is to set up. Want one of your own? Here's how. You'd Best Ask First I'm going to offer you a very basic fix to this problem, but you'd best ask your system people if they want you doing this first. Better yet, ask them if you might mess things up by doing this. Your .htaccess File This is the file that will do the trick for you. You should already have one waiting inside of your Web site directory. If you don't, then you'll need to create it. FTP into your server so you're looking at the top level directory where you store your Web page files. This should be the directory that contains your home page document. Look for the .htaccess file there. Again, if you don't find it (it should be one of the very first files), then y
you click a link and encounter a "404 File Not Found" error? Do you: Click on the BACK button of your browser and go somewhere else? Try to back up one directory in the URL (ie, web address) and try again? Write to the webmaster of the site and the referring site to inform them of the situation? If you are like most people, you'll simply click on the BACK button and try another place. The majority of people don't even know that there are any other alternatives. You thus need to do something so that you do not lose this group of people who come to your site by following an old link or by typing your URL incorrectly. Requirements for Customizing the 404 File Not Found Page It is not possible to customize your 404 error page if your web host has not enabled this facility for your website. For example, at the time of this writing, if you host at free web hosts like Geocities or Tripod, you will not be able to customize your 404 Error Page. Commercial web hosts, on the other hand, usually provide this facility. If your web host supports a way to customise your 404 file, you will usually find mention of it somewhere in their documentation (or advertisements). In fact, if they mention somewhere that you can customize a file named ".htaccess", it probably means that you can also customize your 404 File Not Found error page. The .htaccess file is what Apache web servers use to allow you to fine-tune your web server configurations at a directory level. Other types of web servers handle the customization of 404 error pages differently. (A web server, in this context, is the software that runs on your web host's computer. It is the program that "serves" your web pages to your visitors.) Step One: Creating/Modifying the .htaccess File This step may not be necessary in all situations. Some web hosts already configure their web server so that it will look for a specific file in your web directory when a certain document cannot be found. If so, simply skip this step. If your web server is not an Apache web server, you will have to find out from your web host what you need to do to enable the server to serve your customized file when a file cannot be found. This article only applies to websites that are hosted on Apache web servers. Otherwise, the first thing you need to do is to add the fol