• A search box can be included in the custom error page.
• Display couple of important links in your website including the Home Page, for the user to continue browsing.
• Simply redirect the user to the main page or any other page. This might, however, confuse the user as to the status of the requested page.
• Having a link to a site-map is a good option.

• Create a custom error page - Create a custom error page (e.g. error. htm) and include information you deem necessary. The options discussed above would give you an idea of the type of content to include. Even if you are having a custom error file, some browsers might still ignore the custom file and display its own message, if the file size is small. Ensure that your custom error file size is around 5K to avoid this.

• Modify .htaccess - The .htaccess is used, among other things, to process error messages using ErrorDocument command. This command takes an error code and an URL for redirecting the error. The .htaccess is normally found in the main root directory of your website. If there is no such file create one using a Text editor such as Notepad or Textpad and save it as .htaccess( include the dot). If there is an existing .htaccess, open it using a Text editor and suitably modify it. Make a backup of the existing .htaccess before editing as a wrongly written .htaccess may not display your website properly. Add the following line:

ErrorDocument 404 /error404.htm

In the above example, error404.htm is the custom error file placed in the root web directory (e.g. html or wwww etc.); 404 denotes the error code , File Not Found.

Similarly, add a separate line for each error code. For example:

ErrorDocument 401 /401.htm ErrorDocument 403 /403.htm

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