404 pages are inevitable – visitors may type in an address incorrectly, your site may be linked to with a typo or you may simply forget to redirect every page on your domain if you launch a new site. These things happen.
But when it does happen, it doesn’t have to be a miserable experience for the visitor. You can help them get to where they want to be with links to your content, and with a search box, but you can also cheer them up by doing something a bit different, and by having an error page that isn’t overly formal.
We’ve selected a showcase of sites that do just that – these sites have livened up their 404 pages so that even when you’re lost, you’re still in a good mood.
Mozilla
Source:
GitHub
Source: https://github.com/404
Lockerz
Source:
Skitch
Source: http://skitch.com/404
Google Wave
Source: http://wave.google.com/maintenance/index.html
Blippy
Source:
Nosh.me
Source: http://www.nosh.me/404
Dilbert
Source:
MailChimp
Source: http://mailchimp.com/404/
Grooveshark
Source:
VisitSteve.com
Source:
Blue Daniel
Source:
Angaar
Source: http://angaar.ee/404/
EightBit.me
Source:
Dribbble
Source: http://dribbble.com/404
Alex writes for UK printing company Print Express, who specialise in custom postcard printing, flyers & business cards. In his spare time he plays with Photoshop and learns to code.