30 Creative 404 Error Pages

by flashuser on June 28th, 2011in Inspiration | 75 Comments »

It’s frustrating sometimes when you explore the web and encount the famous message 404 Error – Page Not Found. I’m pretty sure that after 1 seconds or 2 if there’s nothing that will grab your attention, you’ll leave the page and never come back. So it’s good to take in consideration customizing the 404 page and prevent the users leaving your website.

If you don’t have to much time to create something astonishing, a search menu, a link back to your homepage or displaying your most recent articles will do the trick. Consider this: if you don’t have an error 404 page on your website, you should really think about creating one soon. To help you with that I made a selection of 30 Creative 404 Error Pages to give a starting point and inspire you. Already have a brilliant 404 error page, share it with us.

404 Error Pages

1. Blizzard Entertainment

404error-1

2. Fryewiles

404error-2

3. Audiko

404error-3

4. Abduzeedo

404error-4

5. 24-7 Media

404error-5

6. Black Moon Dev

404error-6

7. Milrayas

404error-7

8. Brandstack

404error-8

9. Blue Daniel

404error-9

10. Apartment Home Living

404error-10

11. Bit.ly

404error-11

12. Twurn

404error-12

13. Tractr

404error-13

14. Suredev

404error-14

15. Cooklet

404error-15

16. Gog

404error-16

17. Storenvy

404error-17

18. Pattern Tap

404error-18

19. Chris Jennings

404error-19

20. Iconfinder

404error-20

21. Huwshimi

404error-21

22. Walk with You

404error-22

23. Heinz

404error-23

24. Reef Light Interactive

404error-24

25. iStockPhoto

404error-25

26. Duoh

404error-26

27. Texts from Last Night

404error-27

28. Mailchimp

404error-28

29. Nice Cube Design

404error-29

30. CSS Ninjas

404error-30

31.a GitHub

404error-31

31.b GitHub

404error-33

32. THCNET

404error-32

33. Homestar Runner

404error-34

Hi, there! I'm Alin the founder of Flashuser.net. My passions are related to web and graphic design, photography and climbing. You can find me at Twitter and Facebook

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75 Comments

  1. Matthew FL
    June 28, 2011 at 2:15 pm

    I think that you should have included github’s 404 page. As it has an interactive component to it.
    https://github.com/404 (move your mouse over the image)

    Reply
  2. mezzin
    June 28, 2011 at 2:30 pm

    Github 404 is really missing sorry it is one of the best ever made :) https://github.com/404

    Reply
  3. exitcode1
    June 28, 2011 at 2:51 pm

    Uh, Homestar Runner anyone? http://www.homestarrunner.com/random_garbage_text

    Reply
  4. srodden
    June 28, 2011 at 2:52 pm

    Surely the Heinz one should’ve replaced the 57 on the bottle neck with 404!

    Reply
  5. webmaestro
    June 28, 2011 at 3:08 pm

    https://github.com/error-page.html

    Move your mouse around and feel the force…

    Reply
  6. greyfade
    June 28, 2011 at 3:25 pm

    How could you?!

    You left off the best 404 error page of all!

    http://thcnet.net/zork

    Reply
    • flashuser
      June 29, 2011 at 1:27 am

      Realy nice one. Great game too:)

      Reply
  7. Dan Sommers
    June 28, 2011 at 4:08 pm

    http://www.eng.lsu.edu/research/engrsci

    Reply
  8. DavidR
    June 28, 2011 at 5:54 pm

    Try my own [http://www.rossde.com/bad_page.html]. At least I tell the visitor what URI they attempted to reach. I also indicate that URIs are case-sensitive (other than the domain part), and I have links on my 404 page to my site map and to a current index of HTML pages.

    Reply
    • EH
      June 28, 2011 at 6:05 pm

      DavidR, I might suggest that yours is too long. Being a technical person, my eyes still glazed over at the volume of text on a page that I would seemingly not care about.

      As an exercise in design, simplify. If it’s simply a technical resource… well, simplify. :-)

      Reply
    • joejoe
      June 28, 2011 at 8:08 pm

      Seriously? I mean, SERIOUSLY???

      Reply
    • Nathan Abourbih
      June 29, 2011 at 4:36 am

      Your 404 page is terrible. You totally missed the point of this discussion – specifically the “creative” part.

      Reply
  9. Robert Bobbinson
    June 28, 2011 at 6:05 pm

    how about http://ubuntu.com/404.html

    Reply
  10. Mario
    June 28, 2011 at 6:11 pm

    I didn’t originate the image, but it’s one of the better 404 images I’ve found and used it for my site for book authors:
    http://www.novelrank.com/404.php

    Reply
    • Frank
      June 29, 2011 at 10:19 am

      That’s just clever. They could have said a little more, but the visual of page 404 being missing is quite good.

      Reply
    • Inscrutibob
      June 30, 2011 at 4:06 am

      Page 404 would be on the left side, he pouted.

      Reply
  11. Sloshy
    June 28, 2011 at 6:12 pm

    As said before, Homestar Runner and GitHub have awesome 404 pages. Add those! :D

    Reply
  12. Matt
    June 28, 2011 at 6:49 pm

    This has been my forum’s 404 page for about 3 years now:

    http://walleforum.com/404

    Reply
  13. joejoe
    June 28, 2011 at 8:10 pm

    BTW, +10 for github’s

    Reply
  14. Drywall
    June 28, 2011 at 8:26 pm

    http://www.newsignature.com/404

    Reply
  15. rakesh kumar
    June 28, 2011 at 10:36 pm

    Thanks for sharing.I selected no 24 from your list for my 404 page ( its for my web builder).Thanks for sharing.

    Reply
    • flashuser
      June 29, 2011 at 1:32 am

      you’re welcome. i’m glad you liked it:)

      Reply
  16. DLWhitehouse
    June 29, 2011 at 12:43 am

    If your a Monty Python fan you will love our 404 page http://www.inlifedesign.com/404

    Reply
    • Calarius
      June 29, 2011 at 3:32 am

      That page wouldn’t go “voom” if you put 20,000 volt through it.

      Reply
  17. Sterling
    June 29, 2011 at 12:55 am

    Hey guys, check this one out ;)
    https://www.paf.com/404

    Reply
    • flashuser
      June 29, 2011 at 1:36 am

      Great idea to break down the 404 error. I’ve enjoyed the game:D

      Reply
  18. Name
    June 29, 2011 at 2:07 am

    Nothing beats this one: http://www.plinko.net/404/index.asp

    Reply
  19. Yarko
    June 29, 2011 at 2:34 am

    I sorta like this one:

    https://convore.com/error-cat/

    Reply
  20. loadaverage
    June 29, 2011 at 2:35 am

    obiit.org/404

    Reply
  21. طراحی سایت
    June 29, 2011 at 2:40 am

    This is a great collection – thanks for sharing!

    Reply
  22. SumDood
    June 29, 2011 at 4:09 am

    I liked this one:
    http://cheezburger.com/kingzog/lolz/View/4215871744

    If it was an accident, it’s ironic. If it was intentional, it shows an additional layer of humor. Either way, it’s funny!

    Reply
  23. NoOneOfConsequence
    June 29, 2011 at 5:57 am

    Not as artsy as the ones here, but if you like dry humor – http://powerwf.com/404

    Reply
  24. gedvaen
    June 29, 2011 at 6:01 am

    http://torrentz.eu/error.html

    Reply
  27. gg
    June 29, 2011 at 7:00 am

    http://www.google.cz/intl/cs/help.html

    Reply
  28. Alistair MacDonald
    June 29, 2011 at 7:12 am

    At SmallQR we blame the cats every time something goes wrong. http://www.smallqr.com/404 for example. :-)

    Reply
  29. Noby
    June 29, 2011 at 7:57 am

    Playable 404 http://motion.cz/dasdsa

    Reply
  30. Jesse from TripLingo
    June 29, 2011 at 9:06 am

    Love a lot of these, setting the bar high!

    We created one at TripLingo that’s a little different:

    http://www.triplingo.com/blahblahblah

    Reply
  31. Ricardo Saavedra
    June 29, 2011 at 9:17 am

    It’s funny, because a good web service shouldn’t never show error pages. But is nice to reduce this event.

    Reply
  32. Gulliver M. Smith
    June 29, 2011 at 9:56 am

    All of these are bad – they all put too much blame on the user.

    They should be apologizing for their poorly tested website.

    They should all provide useful navigation.

    Reply
  33. Michel
    June 29, 2011 at 10:14 am

    From the website of a local metal band: (caution, NSFW) http://www.nihilistikrypt.net/blah

    Reply
    • Don't click that
      June 29, 2011 at 12:49 pm

      ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
      DON’T CLICK THIS ONE

      Hey, NSFW is not strong enough language!

      It’s totally offensive to most people.

      Reply
  34. Ale Borba
    June 29, 2011 at 12:30 pm

    I like this one too:
    http://imasters.com.br/404

    great post.

    Reply
  35. LastJudge
    June 29, 2011 at 1:02 pm

    http://proteys.info/404/ this one is good

    Reply
  36. andrerocker
    June 29, 2011 at 4:43 pm

    i like this one http://codeplane.com/404

    Reply
  37. KaeCo
    June 29, 2011 at 7:52 pm

    I like http://www.npr.org/404. The other stories are so neat that you forget what you were looking for anyway.

    Reply
  38. Plamen
    June 30, 2011 at 1:05 am

    Check that one, it’s good!
    http://www.acm.uiuc.edu/404

    Reply
  39. Mike
    June 30, 2011 at 4:52 am

    Thanks for including us in the list – so many great examples here, great post!

    Reply
  40. Adam
    June 30, 2011 at 10:54 am

    http://gojee.com/404

    Reply
  41. rock
    July 7, 2011 at 8:31 pm

    yo eveyone to know more about how to How to fix blogspot error 404 visit

    Reply
  42. rock
    July 7, 2011 at 8:32 pm

    How to fix blogspot error 404

    Reply
  43. Sarah
    July 12, 2011 at 1:09 pm

    This is a great collection.

    Our studio created one that can be downloaded as a wallpaper, seen here:
    http://www.jumpingjackrabbit.com/blog-entry/creating-a-monster

    Reply
  44. Chuck
    August 15, 2011 at 9:57 pm

    So exactly how do you make a 404 page? Do you name it just 404 or 404.html?

    Reply
  45. t_virus
    August 17, 2011 at 12:32 am

    Really awesome article. These 404 pages just rock!!

    Reply
  46. Mark
    September 13, 2011 at 1:59 am

    This is and interesting one: http://www.riluri.com/404error.php
    (drag the green slider in the middle of the screen)
    Hope you enjoy it.

    Reply
  47. rupam
    September 22, 2011 at 11:44 am

    thankyou for those staff .it’s awesome i think .

    Reply
  48. Enrique Fibonacci
    October 24, 2011 at 8:39 pm

    Ohhh! they’re amazing!!!! I like One, Five and Nine!

    Thanks for sharing!

    Reply
  49. Pat r.e.
    November 19, 2011 at 7:49 pm

    Here’s a cool one: http://www.bookofzeus.com/404/

    Reply
  50. Lena
    December 15, 2011 at 7:05 pm

    Another cool one in back to the future: http://bedmap.com/404

    Reply

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