The 404 error reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Jul-2004 (provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

404 error

404 File Not Found is a message in the case of a "404 error"; it appears in most web browsers when the connection works, and the first part of the URL correctly leads to a working web server, but the rest of the URL specifies a page that does not exist on the server.

If the connection does not work, or the first part of the URL is wrong, or the web server does not work, other messages are generated.

The 404 error is one of the standard response codes of the web's HTTP protocol. The first 4 indicates a client error such as a mistyped URL. The middle 0 refers to a general syntax error. The last 4 just indicates the specific error in the group of 40x, which in this case is "URL Not Found". The use of three-digit codes is similar to the use of such codes in earlier protocols such as FTP and NNTP.

These errors can be customized on a large number of such servers, such as Apache, to display a page that could be of more help than a default. Internet Explorer will not read these pages, however, unless they are larger than 512 bytes.

External links

• An example of a 404 error
• 404 Research Labs
  Includes a gallery of custom 404 pages and information on how to create them.
• A collection of creative 404 error pages. Advice and guidance on how to create effective 404 error pages for web sites.

This is the "404 error" reference article from the English Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. See also our Disclaimer.