NOTE: This is for a UNIX system.
If you don't want to fool around with this, consider our hosting services. Our servers have "Custom Error Messages" as a "BUILT-IN" feature!
As you surf the web,
I'm sure you occasionally encounter error messages telling you that the web site
or file your are looking for does not exist. It may look boring and non-informative,
something like this. The most common errors are usually
404 - File not found or 500 - Internal Server Error.
Here is how to get rid of those error messages!
NOTE: This works on UNIX systems with APACHE servers.
Open a new file in a text editor (like notepad).
Type the following and insert your own .htm file names.
(Note the space prior to the /). :
errordocument 404 /yourfile.htm
errordocument 500 /yourfile.htm
Save this file as .htaccess.
Design your .htm file for the error page. Our's looks
like this. You could even put a counter on
this page to give you a quick idea about how many error messages your visitors
are getting.
Using a FTP program, transfer the .htaccess file
to the main directory of your website. Transfer the .htm file
to either your main directory or whatever directory you specified in the
.htaccess file.
That's it! Your new error page should be ready. Good luck!
Here are some other error messages you may encounter:
. . . and what to do about them!
403 Forbidden Pages
You found a page you were not meant to see. This is usually a password protected area. If you entered a password and user name, check your spelling.
404 Not Found - (mentioned above)
The page you are looking for is not here. You could have misspelled the URL, or the author may have deleted it, or moved it to another location. If you really want to find this page, check your spelling first. Next, try another suffix - if the URL ends in .htm, try using .html. Next you can try hacking away at the url. For example, if the URL is
"http://www.companyname.com/widgets/electronics/micro.htm",
try
"http://www.companyname.com/widgets/electronics/".
If the webmaster does not have an index (default) file in that directory, you will receive a list of all the pages/files in that directory.
500 Internal Server Error - (mentioned above)
Something probably is not configured right on the server side.
