Ask HN: Happy 404 Day. Whats your favorite 404 error page? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Happy 404 Day. Whats your favorite 404 error page?

200 pointsdonohoe169 comments

Many of the best, most clever, 404 error pages have disappeared over the years. What are the current highlights, or ones that survived the test of time?

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Financial Times has my favourite: https://www.ft.com/404

A range of spurious economic explanations for why they couldn't serve the page.

What is interesting, until you called it out I did not look past the beginning and I wondered... why is this impressive?

It just kinda blends in like many other sites have a site map on the 404.

That is well done, simple but a good fun if you look at it for more than a couple seconds.

And probably the reason why no one at FT blinked an eye and said "you can't have fun on our site like this because it is very unprofessional"

That is hilarious.

Out of all the fun 404 pages, this is the best I've seen

It's like they're calling themselves out.. delicious

they didn't ask LLMs yet?

Fun crash course in economics while you're looking for a missing page

I learned so much about economic systems!

This is extremely awesome, love this

I particularly like:

"Liquidity traps We injected some extra money into the technology team but there was little or no interest so they simply kept it, thus failing to stimulate the page economy."

As I imagine tech teams across the world thinking, "Wait! We could have just kept the money?!"

Ok, you win! I gave up at some point and started scrolling impulsively to check if this is an infinite feed generated by some llm query. Turns out it was finite.

https://www.thesistersofmercy.com/error404page.html (written by Andrew Eldritch himself, like the whole site!)

Also:

  Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pron surfed, weak and weary, 
  Over many a strange and spurious site of 'hot xxx galore',
  While I clicked my fav'rite bookmark, suddenly there came a warning,
  And my heart was filled with mourning, mourning for my dear amour.
  "’Tis not possible!", I muttered, "give me back my free hardcore!"
  
  Quoth the server, 404

Never thought I'd see a Sister's reference on HN. Well played.

Adult Swim's 404 page always has a dark, sometimes surreal, shaggy-dog story that ends with a reference to the page being 404.[1]

The page seems to return the same story each time you access it (at least on the same day). I'm not sure when they change from one story to another. The author has posted some of the other stories on other sites.[2][3][4][5] I still vividly recall reading this one in particular (although this reproduction is missing the bolding of the text in the second to last paragraph).[6]

[1] https://adultswim.com/404

[2] https://www.reddit.com/r/adultswim/comments/l48nii/the_sites...

[3] https://www.jchristopherarrison.com/crash

[4] https://www.jchristopherarrison.com/bar

[5] https://www.jchristopherarrison.com/departuredate

[6] https://www.reddit.com/r/adultswim/comments/9efd3s/adult_swi...

What is annoying is how there is no other indication it is a 404.

I'm surprised that the "!!1" title on https://google.com/404 has survived so long without some manager making it more corporate.

could take months and at least 2 google product closures to get that fixed

They've already removed http://www.google.com/intl/xx-hacker/, which used to show Google in 1337-speak.

They seem to have removed pirate too. Pieces of something at any rate :\

I am curious about what that hidden reference is to

Slack's 404 page (https://slack.com/404) is a throwback to Glitch, the MMO game that its founders pivoted from.

I couldn't help but notice that the butterflies in this animation are all dead.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39585207

NPR's is one of my favorites: https://www.npr.org/404

I suspect I've seen that multiple times over the years without ever reading the fine print. Nice.

Here's mine https://sivu.jp/404

Oh, this is charming. Nice work.

I do particularly enjoy Amazon's https://www.amazon.com/404

Someone else mentioned Github which is always funny until you realized you followed a bad link to a repo you were looking for.

Thingiverse has a great one when you can force it to happen: https://www.thingiverse.com/nonexistant404page/designs

Amazon's looks blurry

> Thingiverse has a great one when you can force it to happen: https://www.thingiverse.com/nonexistant404page/designs

Hold LMB on it.

I’ve always thought that this implies that somewhere in Amazon’s systems there is an API that serves pictures of dogs.

And I just like knowing that.

404 pages should have a different favicon so that when opening multiple tabs in the background you will notice something different. Here's mine with a little easter egg when hovering over the numbers: https://ss64.com/404

I'm going to ask a stupid question at my own peril.. please go easy on me

Does serving a 404 page still allow the response of 404 as the response code? or is it technically a 200 since it is serving the custom 404 page successfully?

If you think about it, any response you get is a "200" by that definition since the server successfully gave you...something.

The browser usually has no special handling for most response codes, so serving a 404 page with a 404 status code is fine/expected and lets things (browser, scraper, etc) respond appropriately. I don't think the browser treats it specially but if you were scraping, you'd obviously want to ignore that result.

It is frustrating to work with APIs that return something like 200 { meta: { status: 404 message: "field <x> not found" } }

and browsing is no different.

I had a similar debate with coworkers about returning 404 when a DB webhoook query found no rows. It added extra complexity to client code trying to figure out if it was a bad URL, bad query, or just no rows.

404 means the server cannot find the requested resource. In the case of a database, the "resource" is the database endpoint.

So, 404 would be used in case the database endpoint does not exist at the URL you tried to access it at. A query returning zero rows would be a "success" in HTTP terms.

Yep, for that 204 (OK, but no results) exists. But if you serve a browser a page with 204 in the header, it refuses to render anything since 204 mandates an empty body, so the browser doesn't even look at it.

Brave offers to check the Wayback Machine for a cached version of the page.

Basically: 404 tells crawlers that the URL is invalid.

The HTTP server also has to return something,. It could simply return 0-length content and allow the browser to show its error page, but that wouldn't be "on brand."

Thanks for this. Chrome extension can be found here. https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/web-cache-viewer/pb...

It's a 404 with a body.

By convention, if you don't return enough content, the browser will render it's own not found, but if you do it'll render it.

In very simplified terms, "404" is just a number that's included in the "invisible" HTTP header of the web page you're visiting. Whether this number is "200" (success) or "404" (not found), it doesn't affect how your browser renders the web page.

Technically you could have a website where you serve real web pages full of content using the (wrong) 404 code, or serve web pages that tell the user "not found" using the (wrong) 200 code. It would massively mess up bots, search engines, browser extensions, and any other software that needs to know whether a page actually exists - but it would be fully browsable like normal by a human with a web browser, since humans don't see or read HTTP headers.

If you request a page like www.ycombinator.com/monkeybusiness There is no page called MonkeyBusiness so the webserver will throw a 404 error and either display a default page generated by the web server software or optionally a custom page. In reality the 404 page will have a different url that you never see.

If you happened to know that the page was www.ycombinator.com/error404.html Then you could load that page directly and it would return 200 OK

Http codes are the codes of the application not a technical transfer code.

Btw there is a status code 204 which means ok but no response body.

It is a good question! The 404 status code is useful context. The browser (or user agent, crawler, your code!) can act however it likes in response to the 404. A browser will render the page still, thus all the funky 404 pages since sites can apply their branding to the error. If this were not the case the browser might show a generic message to the user (people would get used to this).

An example of where the browser might ignore the body is in a 301 redirect.

I'm a fan of this 404 page of dancing construction workers. I think the original page got taken down, but it's available on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRkJk303ppw

Don't let the music start playing (after 5 seconds) because soon after that you will be hooked

My favorite and most creative 404 page I saw is for ROOT CERN software *

https://root.cern/404/

It is the error you wish was true in your life.

* Used as C++ interpreter with devilish syntax to help physicists do data analysis.

Shameless self-promotion: https://www.masswerk.at/404

( There were several others over the years, here's the previous one: https://www.masswerk.at/status/?404 )

I'm able to trick your page into going twice :)

https://ibb.co/qkhjv9R

A prankster! Help! :-)

(What did you do?)

Really good. Also your website is too awesome. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks! (As for the 404, there may be something other, soon.)

I love the World of Spectrum 404 page [1], which had a mention here last week [2].

[1] https://worldofspectrum.org/404.html

[2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39870902

Wow, it's even responsive!

(My browser window is one half of a 4K monitor, so the Spectrum screen is shown in "portrait mode")

IMDb has random movie quotes: https://www.imdb.com/404

I somehow took a liking to this one, really simple and a bit funny as Anthony is the patron saint of lost things. https://diopitt.org/404

One time I lost something important at work. I asked a co-worker about it and she suggested we do the St. Anthony prayer, so more-or-less to humor her and to take my mind off the worry I went along.

The important thing was found later that day, in a very unlikely place.

YMMV.

Shared here a few days ago (and not by me - I'm stealing someone else's stuff here): https://www.ft.com/errors/page/404

The text at the top is rather standard boilerplate 'page not found' verbiage, but the justifications according to the different economic theories listed afterwards is the hidden gem of this page!

I like the Norwegian Army's: https://www.forsvaret.no/en/404 The version in Norwegian language looks more like a bullet hole for some reason: https://www.forsvaret.no/404

https://http.cat/404

http.cat is one of my favorite resources. I get to find out what the status code means and see a cute cat.

This let me know about HTTP 451. Very clever, also very cute website

This is ours: https://fusionauth.io/404

Darn storm troopers can't find a droid to save their life.

No legal issues?

None yet :fingers crossed:.

Actually, in some ways getting a cease and desist from Lucasfilms would be a sign we'd arrived :) .

What about from Amazon ;-)

I really like the one from gamespot: https://www.gamespot.com/404/

The ray-of-vision thing is really cool! And the found item names are delightful.

I like the slider puzzle Mercury built into their 404 page:

https://mercury.com/404

My high score today is 33.

My poetry site's 404 - you get presented with a randomly selected poem as an apology. You can refresh the page to read different random poems. If you refresh too many times your eyes will bleed. You're welcome!

https://rikverse2020.rikweb.org.uk/404

I think it's a missed opportunity that Roland doesn't have a https://www.roland.com/global/products/sp-404mk2/ on their 404 page.

I used to frequent a site titled "The Best 404 Page Ever" that played a random flash file on refresh.

Seems like someone's recreated it here https://thebest404pageeverredux.com/

https://http.cat/404

These images would actually make fantastic Anki cards, for anyone looking to log these in their memory banks.

Cats for other HTTP status codes can be found (or not found :-)) one level up

https://http.cat

I like this: https://http.cat/status/411

https://http.cat/420 and this!

is this the first ever 404 page that isn't actually a 404?

Well, given what the site is doing I don't think they could really return all those status codes for the various pages and still show the images in all browsers. I think httpbin.org may be closer to what you're looking for

Also, I've been on the Internet long enough to know that there are unquestionably other sites misusing status codes, made worse by our graphql friend cheerfully packaging server errors in 200 responses

It returns it for 404 as well: https://http.cat/does/not/exist

Moparisthebest's 404 where the web server has an existential crisis: https://www.moparisthebest.com/404

Cleaned up some of the spelling and grammar and took this for my own site :)

Poor little thing :(

Still this old classic: https://github.com/abc/xyz

Why did they remove the parallax effect?

Parallax effect Github 404 was the best. I even had a coffee mug of the design they officially sold (with the text to the effect of 'This isn't the drink you're looking for') but someone took it and they no longer sell them, which was very disappointing.

Wow, yeah. I hadn't seen a GitHub 404 page in a while (new job, don't code much anymore) and my first thought on seeing it was that the 404 page was broken. That would have been an odd recursion.

I always really liked this one, now no longer in the original place after that site shut down:

https://doubleyoudoubledoubleewe.www.dash.deeohhtee.dash-das...

There are longer versions of that variant of the poem, and versions with cleaner references, that can be easily found, but I think this is the original – it is certainly the first instance of it that I saw.

Not an actual 404 error page, but: for a short while, I ran the web site for an Amnesty International writing group in the Netherlands. We were assigned group number 404. The home page had a similar layout to the standard 404 error message but with a text like "Error 404: person not found", and a link to the actual home page. Let's just say people were confused and didn't find us.

At least I had fun.

My own 404 page has served me well for years https://steviep.xyz/404

Please note that this page has flashing lights, for anyone that may be sensitive.

https://www.wendys.com/404

Wendys has a video game, it's amusing.

That's fun. I wonder if Wendy's had to license the name Burgertime from Data East

Pretty intense https://www.tabletmag.com/404

Ahrefs https://ahrefs.com/404

They explain what is a broken link!

https://news.ycombinator.com/404

Someone made a puzzle about 404 pages once:

https://2020.teammatehunt.com/puzzles/puzzle-not-found

For those who aren't sure how to get started (ROT13): Svaq gur sbhe bu sbhe cntr svefg

https://figma.com/404

I enjoyed the new SuperMega website's 90s web styling, including their 404 page: https://funnybrothers.com/foobar

The hit counter is my favorite part.

I love creative 404 pages! My favs are the ones with mini games. https://www.kualo.co.uk/404 has a Space Invader game and https://nouveller.com/404/ has an old school desktop with Jurassic Park references.

I actually did a whole roundup of creative 404 pages at a previous job: https://webflow.com/blog/best-404-pages

Taco Bell's has always made me laugh. The taco's face in the split second before falling on its face kills me.

https://www.tacobell.com/404

Maybe a geolocation issue, but this one keeps on redirecting me to a whole different URL [0] with no taco face :(

0: https://www.yum.com/wps/portal/yumbrands/Yumbrands/company/o...

The old one from Beyerdynamic.

https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2Fl...

Bravoboard's 404 Page - https://www.bravoboard.xyz/404

Bravoboard's 404 page is truly unique and innovative! It features an interactive message board where visitors can see posts and messages left by others, inviting them to join in and leave a message themselves. This creative approach to a typically mundane page highlights Bravoboard's core capabilities in a fun and engaging way. Bravo to Bravoboard for such a clever idea!

Back around 1996, MIT had this haiku as their 404 page:

I ate your Web page.

Forgive me. It was juicy

And tart on my tongue.

https://web.archive.org/web/20000128162812/mit.edu/404

Ah, so it was there until some time in the fall of 2004, then.

404s and heartbreaks https://support.spotify.com/us/404/

Discord has a hidden snake game if you enter the Konami code: https://discord.com/404

Amazon and the employee dogs that are featured: https://www.amazon.co.uk/blah

Bloomberg’s old ‘guy yeeting the monitor’ one. Sadly missed.

Easily the best one ever. Back when the Web was still fun.

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=%22bloomberg%22+%22404%22&t=ffab&i...

There was a separate one for Businessweek with an endless Droste-effect of a lady reading a Businessweek issue, headlined "When will Bloomberg get its sh#t together?"

I wish I were a fly on the wall when the decision was made to get rid of those 404 pages.

Here's my 404 page of existential rambling: https://erellsworth.com/404

https://www.thesistersofmercy.com/error404page.html

Huh, the Sisters are into IF and Frotz. I would have expected point & clicks instead, must be hard to type under only UV light.

https://www.lego.com/en-us/404

https://www.pixar.com/404

https://www.blizzard.com/en-us/404

https://www.imdb.com/404

Always loved a good 404 page :D Here's mine: https://enstyled.com/404

I put the search engine on mine -> https://eshop-prices.com/404

Here's mine: https://www.da.vidbuchanan.co.uk/404

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/abc/

I wish I could find a copy of the old reddit 404, but the current one is still pretty good:

https://www.reddit.com/j/foo

Ironically if you try https://www.reddit.com/404, that actually resolves because it takes you to the post with that ID. :)

I didn’t know there’s something called 404 day, yesterday I was designing a 404 page for my startup site, front end isn’t my area of expertise and not yet done but open for feedback https://ubiquitous-tapioca-350c21.netlify.app/404.html

I wonder how many admins/devops/whatever will get alarmed by an inexplicable bump in 404s served thanks to this post :)

https://www.fabrikod.com/not-found

Sleeping dragon: https://tabletopy.com/404

Any one that doesn't say "Oops!"

Here's mine: https://rgbcu.be/404

I enjoyed The Australian's. Fake quotes from various Australian politicians about the missing page.

It's been around for a while, and I'm plesently surprised it seems like they've still been updating it.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/404

"maybe go try some wasabi pea dust ice cream."

I can't recreate the error now, but going to www.moosejaw.com in the EU used to give me the error "we can't offer products in EU... We're working on it. but until then, maybe go try some wasabi pea dust ice cream." I have a screenshot, thank god.

https://news.ycombinator.com/404

https://os.me/not-found

Here's mine: https://cmarshall.net/Error_404.html

The idea is not original. I stole the JS from another site (way back in the last century, I think).

I watched yours, so you should watch mine: https://h4x.zip/404.html :)

That's fun!

In Florida, we have an actual 404 on I75 exit

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Florida_I75nb_Exit_4...

  The requested URL was not found on the server.
    -- Old Apache saying

(I forget where I got it from for http://aleahmad.net/404 )

The former weapons of mass destruction 404 message comes to mind - https://w3dev.net/stuff/error/404.html

https://dribbble.com/404

Dribbbles been one of my favs for a long time. Color slider that arranges Dribble shots into a 404 that match your color selection

RTÉ (Ireland’s national broadcaster) has a 404 page with a nostalgic touch for anyone who grew up here in the 1980s: https://www.rte.ie/404

The original Flash version of https://homestarrunner.com/404

Even though the sound doesn't play anymore, you can still hear it in your head.

I was proud of this back in the 90s: https://www.glenneroo.org/404.html

Today though, definitely not proud, just too lazy to change it :)

I like the design of Heinz's 404 page. Mostly because of the clever use of ketchup in the design. https://www.heinz.com/404

If you're a kpop fan I'll nominate my own: https://kpopping.com/404

Next up is figuring out how to do a 500 page...

https://www.topomap.co.nz/404 You're probably not lost, just geographically challenged.

This one was on hacker news recently: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39870902

Ours contains a Banana Splits reference: https://www.wireshark.org/404.html

An NPM themed 404 page, here: https://blog.javascripttoday.com/404

I can't wait to see the responses on Happy 418 Day.

Rest of World has a custom fortune cookie

https://restofworld.org/404

Expect the good vibes around you to take you in unexpected directions!

(Aside: "vibes" is misspelled in `consultThePowersThatBe`).

+1 Thx for flagging. I'm sure there are others.

We stand with a cause :D https://lightrains.com/404

Here's mine: https://www.amecy.com/404

https://mannotfounddog.ytmnd.com/

https://randomdailyart.com/404

This is ours! https://readme.com/test

Tumbeasts still have a place in my heart.

https://acm.umn.edu/404

WWE

http://www.wwe.com/page-404

pleasing design and efficient rerouting from the king of maps https://www.tomtom.com/en_gb/404/

My vote is for meh.com's "something went terribly wrong" song:

https://meh.com/404

They really should have saved that for their 500 page, since of the "terribly wrong" outcomes, 404 is pretty mild

happy 404 y'all ! https://smknstd404.netlify.app/

I think that this video, embedded in a 404 page, makes the best 404 page, hands down: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dYKEMSMV3w. Lance Cummins created this video 10 years ago rewriting the words to U2's song "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For". The words start out: "You have come, to my site. You were hoping, it would be alright, only to find this page, only to find this page. You can yell, you can scream, throw your keyboard, at the computer screen... The videography here is really excellent.

Nothing ever bets https://pudding.cool/404

Is there an end?

Grooveshark panda

Thank you.

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