Probably the most comprehensive inventory of well-known 404 pages at home and abroad

There is a legend circulating on the Internet about the origin of the "404 error".

Room 404 of the European Organization for Nuclear Research houses the first server of the Internet, and Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, works here. If you want to access a web page, you must submit an application to this room. If the web page cannot be found, you will be prompted with "404 not found".

When people asked Berners-Lee to comment on the "404 error", Berners-Lee refused to comment on the grounds that it was an insignificant trivia, making the legend even more confusing.

Robert Cailliau, another inventor of the Internet who pioneered the hypertext structure, recently denied the authenticity of this legend in an interview with Wired magazine and explained the true source of the "404 error":

The "404 error" is set by programmers to let users know where the error is when the network connection fails.

Such a statement destroys the legendary color of "404 error" and may disappoint many people.

However, since the birth of the Internet, designers have spent a lot of effort on 404 pages to prevent you from being disappointed with the website due to incorrect access. The changes in 404 pages are also a reflection of the development of Internet interactive forms.

Next, I will take you to look at some interesting 404 pages on Chinese and foreign websites.

Overseas

Facebook

It seems that Facebook’s 404 page does not seem to be very thoughtful. The design of this page comes from its own “Like” icon.

Google

Google's logo designs for different festivals have always been unique, and its 404 page is no exception.

The one you are most familiar with may be this hand-painted robot.

But what's even more interesting is the Google Chrome 404 page, which is a small game where you control a dinosaur to avoid obstacles.

This page was designed by Google designer Sebastien Gabriel, who also created many classic 404 page icons in the Chrome browser.

Pac-Man

Also turning the 404 page into a mini-game, this company chose the classic arcade game “Pacman”.

Pixar

Pixar's 404 page uses an image of Sadness crying from Inside Out, with the words "Awww...Don't Cry."

IMDB

The film review website IMDB used classic quotes from different movies on its 404 page.

Bloomberg

Bloomberg's 404 page is a nonsensical animation in which a man in a suit smashes a computer with a 404 screen, and then shatters himself...

Airbnb

The feeling of not being able to find a web page is a bit like the feeling of losing an ice cream scoop?

MiKandi

MiKandi is the world's first Android adult app store, and its 404 page is a naked blonde girl saying that her clothes are gone.

The saddest 404 page

This is the 404 page for the Association for Computing Machinery website at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. It contains paragraphs of text telling you how frustrated it is that it can't find the page and that it wants to "crawl into a trash can and disintegrate itself."

This whole paragraph is extremely depressing, and the tone is very similar to that of Marvin, the robot who suffers from depression in "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy".

Add some special effects to "404 not found"

Next stop, 404

This 404 page is a subway platform. A subway train arrives at the station every once in a while. The picture can be moved with the mouse, and it will feel better if you put on headphones to listen.

Make the mouse move

The 404 page is also a good user interface. This page allows the ghost's eyes to follow the mouse.

Although this page also requires the eyes to follow the mouse, it is not very friendly to people with trypophobia.

Designed by you

This 404 page is a canvas full of blank pixels, and you can doodle on it as you like.

This is a bit like the event launched by Reddit on April Fool's Day this year, allowing netizens around the world to color a huge blank canvas.

There is always a gif that can express your mood

Every time I open it, there are different animated pictures, and it hurts to look at them.

It is also a constantly changing animated picture, but with a more varied style.

"404 page" that does not match the product

This website is called "404 page found" and its main purpose is to archive old web pages that have been deleted from the server, allowing users to browse web pages that have disappeared in the history of the Internet.

Here you can find historical versions of different websites from 1993 to 2009. It is a small Internet history museum.

Domestic

In China, "404" is an imported word. In the context of China's Internet, "404 error" has more meanings. It can mean that the webpage does not exist, the content does not comply with the law, or the publisher has taken the initiative to delete the content. As the article in Wired magazine said:

• "404 Error" reminds people that Internet technology, created and controlled by humans, is not completely reliable.

Let’s take a look at the various “404 pages” of domestic Internet companies.

The "404 pages" of Tencent, Baidu and NetEase all contain information about missing children. These 404 pages allow users to embed a simple code in the 404 page and spread information about missing children through this page, reflecting a company's attitude towards public welfare.

Taobao’s 404 page reminds users that Taobao’s surname is Ma, the same as Jack Ma’s.

JD.com used its own "JD Dog".

NetEase Yanxuan has adopted a minimalist style.

Putting Sina and Sina Weibo together, it seems that the product manager of Sina Weibo pays more attention to the 404 page.

Zhihu’s 404 page can be said to be very consistent with Zhihu’s tone.

The 404 page of Station A has a strong two-dimensional style. I believe many people saw the slightly sad AC girl during the few days when Station A was inaccessible some time ago.

When it comes to the two-dimensional world, B Station's 22 Girls and 33 Girls are equally impressive, and they have also added a comic theater to the 404 page.

Tencent Video is similar to IMDB, using movie quotes from different movies and also providing stills.

Youku was smart.

IQIYI recommends a video to you.

You can tell at first glance that it is the "404 page" of the food delivery platform, this is Ele.me.

Meituan’s style is somewhat similar to AB Station.

Damai.com’s “404 page” can probably easily touch the tears of fans.

The "404 page" is an error on the Internet, known as the "last page of the Internet." In addition to reminding people that the page they are visiting does not exist, it has also quietly become an advertising space for various corporate brand promotions.

Although Robert Cailliau, the inventor of the hypertext structure, believes that the creativity of the "404 page" is unnecessary, those creative "404 pages" have indeed become an interesting part of the Internet.

For product managers and designers, the “404 page” is also an important part of UI design. Google designer Sebastien Gabriel once said:

• Designing error icons is an interesting thing. You hope that users will never see them, but once they see them, you want to avoid them having more disappointment.

As for how to design the "404 page", the CDC team responsible for the visual and interactive design of Tencent products believes that a good "404 page" should follow the following principles:

• Provide a concise description of the problem and use light words to eliminate the visitor's frustration so that the visitor goes somewhere instead of going back.
• Provide reasonable solutions to assist visitors in achieving their visit goals.
• Provide a personalized and friendly interface to enhance the access experience.

That being said, hopefully you won’t encounter too many 404s in your internet journey.