404

Part of the TechTarget Network of Enterprise IT Web Sites
Home Look It Up ITKnowledge Exchange Fast References Products White Papers Blogs

Search our IT-specific encyclopedia for:
 
OR Jump to a topic:
 
Advanced Search
Browse alphabetically:
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z #
All Categories Internet Acronyms & Lingo

404

Also see errors .

404 is a frequently-seen status code that tells a Web user that a requested page is "Not found." 404 and other status codes are part of the Web's Hypertext Transfer Protocol ( HTTP ), written in 1992 by the Web's inventor, Tim Berners-Lee. He took many of the status codes from the earlier Internet protocol for transferring files, the File Transfer Protocol ( FTP .)

What to Do If You Get a 404

If the site no longer exists, there's nothing you can do. However, it only takes one mistyped character to result in a 404. See whether the ".htm" should be an ".html" or vice versa. If you're linking from a Web site, you can do a "View source" to make sure it wasn't miscoded. Whether or not it is, you may want to send a note to the Webmaster so that the link can be fixed for the next users.

How to Handle 404s If You Have a Web Site

Here are some things you can do:
  • Use a Web site analysis tool such as Web Trends or Weblog to identify links that result in 404s, then fix the links.
  • If you change the Uniform Resource Locator ( URL ) for a page on your site, retain the old URL as a redirect file, putting a message on it and inserting a META element with a REFRESH to change to the new URL in a specified number of seconds.
  • You can create the page contents for a 404 status code page and substitute it for the 404 page that the browser usually provides. This will allow you to personalize the message and encourage the user to send a note to the Webmaster so that the situation can be fixed.






Read more about it at:
> The entertaining 404 Research Lab offers a history of 404 as well as an archive of astonishing 404 page creations.
> BizHub tells two ways to redirect users to a new page.
> The Basic HTTP as Defined in 1992 by Tim Berners-Lee includes the original description of 404 and the other status codes.
This word suggested by: Havi Hoffman
Last updated on: Dec 31, 2007

>  Enterprise Software related Research & News
>  White Papers for the Retail Industry

Are you a Know-IT-All?
Is an electron’s charge positive or negative?
Answer

WORD OF THE DAY...
Net neutrality
LEARN MORE ABOUT...
Buzz Alert: Craigslist criminal
Our Latest Discovery
Learning Guides and Tutorials
Our 60 tech-specific sites
WhatIs.com RSS Feeds
Home Look It Up ITKnowledge Exchange Fast References Products White Papers Blogs
About Us   |   Contact Us   |   For Advertisers   |   For Business Partners   |   Reprints   |   RSS   |   Awards
TechTarget provides enterprise IT professionals with the information they need to perform their jobs - from developing strategy, to making cost-effective IT purchase decisions and managing their organizations' IT projects - with its network of technology-specific Web sites, events and magazines.

TechTarget Corporate Web Site  |  Media Kits  |  Reprints  |  Site Map




All Rights Reserved, Copyright 2008, TechTarget | Read our Privacy Policy
  TechTarget - The IT Media ROI Experts