Smashing Magazine - we smash you with the information that will make your life easier. really.
Vitaly Friedman, editor-in-chief of Smashing Magazine (www.smashingmagazine.com), an online magazine dedicated to designers and developers.
- 201 Comments
- 1
- 2August 17th, 2007 11:23 pm
So your the reason my sites logged a million /adsddsa 404’s last month
- 3August 17th, 2007 11:29 pm
Can’t wait for the next contest :)
Hopefully we’ll make the next cut
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- 5August 17th, 2007 11:32 pm
I’m not sure if it’s just me, but I think some of the links may be messed up.
The last one (http://media.smashingmagazine.com/cdn_smash/images/404-2/doodoo.jpg) and the printscreen one (http://media.smashingmagazine.com/cdn_smash/images/404-2/printscreen.jpg) seem to point to other 404 pages.
I can’t even find 404 pages, heh.
- 6August 17th, 2007 11:34 pm
crud, were you guys even able to see our 404 page? I think one of my devs fixed the site to auto-direct…. so basically fixing something that was suppose to be broke lol.. dang it! Next contest!
the hard path:
http://dev.starfeeder.com/404/404.html - 7
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- 10August 18th, 2007 12:19 am
Hello
I like alos the 404’s page of ministry for the culture of the French government
- 11August 18th, 2007 1:11 am
It’s not a real 404 but also a screen for not available. I like this one from datenvandalismus.org.
- 12August 18th, 2007 1:30 am
I’m a bit disappointed to see all those technical “404 errors”. Does any visitor know where you are talking about? Only people who actually build websites, as well as other IT professionals know what the 404 means. Is it that hard to use a clear message the users directly understand?
- 13August 18th, 2007 1:55 am
Adore the blue screen of death 404. What a great way to inject a little secret creativity on a site that’s been design-by-committeed to death.
- 14August 18th, 2007 3:05 am
buena colección :D
- 15August 18th, 2007 5:03 am
I think the old blue-screen-of-death one is my favorite because taking little potshots at Microsoft is always funny. There are some very clever ones in here. I’m going to have to rethink my 404 page to provide a little more creativity.
In terms of usability, I think providing a search field as well as some links to recent pages would be one of the better solutions though.
- 16August 18th, 2007 5:33 am
the book 404 page has impossible page numbering…page 404 should be on the left side, not the right.
unless it’s 0 indexed.
- 17August 18th, 2007 6:21 am
So fun, I enjoyed looking at all of these! It’s intriguing how such a number has birthed all these artistic interpretations. Here’s my watermelony one:
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- 19August 18th, 2007 10:02 am
The Pure pwnage 404 is my favorite. Helps if you know the show.
http://www.purepwnage.com/404.html - 20August 18th, 2007 3:56 pm
Great selection. I like the idea making a nice or funny 404 page. So I made also one for my own blog (http://blog.aditu.de/error/404 or any other not existing link ;)).
Thanks for the inspiration and sharing!!!!
- 21August 18th, 2007 4:42 pm
At the top of section 2 you write “and beer to keep you company”, but the bottle depicted on the image below is clearly a whisky bottle.
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- 23August 18th, 2007 9:32 pm
Can’t help but to plug PG’s 404, a fancy shirt :-)
- 24August 19th, 2007 12:02 am
I can’t believe you missed the best 404 of all time… ZORK! (Yes, it really works!)
- 25August 19th, 2007 6:05 am
Here is a error page from my site: CLICK HERE
By the way I really like your Smashing Website
- 26August 19th, 2007 6:31 am
Thanks for the mention guys.
- 27August 19th, 2007 7:36 am
You just have to like how the first one confuses 404 with 505 (in the big image, not in its headline though).
- 28August 19th, 2007 9:41 am
The blue screen of death is the most scary 404 message – unknowing browsers that are familiar with the Windowz blue screen will most likely be certain they have killed their machine at first glance when happening upon a missing page.
- 29August 19th, 2007 1:19 pm
“actually mine is better.. =]
http://scar.atspace.org/404.html”
Yes i like the idea of your 404 page
- 30August 19th, 2007 10:39 pm
Nice collection!
- 31August 20th, 2007 2:44 am
Nice list — was happy to see our site get up there (Slonky.com).
Definitely like how there’s a good mix of function, creativity, and etc., throughout the list.
- 32August 20th, 2007 8:57 am
Loved the 404 idea, atleast this way the visitors would remember our page for a long time even if it doesnot load
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- 34August 21st, 2007 4:15 am
I still prefer mine :)
It captures your IP and your web client and writes it in the BSOD :)
http://www.mariotomic.com/404.shtml - 35
- 36August 22nd, 2007 1:41 am
Nice pages. :)
- 37August 22nd, 2007 4:55 pm
Nice one! I’m doing one to my Site
- 38August 22nd, 2007 10:31 pm
I like the error page at ibiblio (especially the Australian one):
- 39August 23rd, 2007 3:11 pm
i would like to make one custom page too…to told my reader page infected by virus….hohoho scare them when them access wrong page
- 40August 24th, 2007 9:58 am
The bluescreen one breaks all the other one’s… eheh
- 41August 26th, 2007 9:30 am
I like this blue screen of death-style 404 page more: http://zonaphotoshop.com/404
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- 43August 29th, 2007 12:57 am
We have one up at RolePlayGateway. It’s pretty much identical to the rest of the site, so users aren’t interrupted and are naturally pushed into our site.
- 44August 29th, 2007 1:53 am
404 error.
this explanation really cool and valuable. where to change that page.
thanks
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- 46August 31st, 2007 10:59 pm
hello, this is my 404 page, that i created recently :)
http://lanooz.net/404‘wrong WC!’ :P
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- 48September 3rd, 2007 4:14 am
hahaha!
Love it!
You can make a post with some 404 images. I have some to contribute! ^^ - 49September 5th, 2007 12:29 pm
Strong Bad!!!, man nice way to be creative with errors.
- 50September 8th, 2007 8:39 am
How about the depressed server???
- 51September 10th, 2007 7:49 am
I loved those ones!
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- 56September 14th, 2007 12:26 am
the b3ta.com 404 is pretty cool, all the images were created by the board users
- 57September 14th, 2007 12:40 am
the one for BlueVertigo is actually a song for the last episode of cowboy bebop, just thought I should straighten that out.
- 58September 14th, 2007 12:43 am
Nice collection of 404 pages. I’m thinking of creating my own 404 page but I keep procrastinating. I’ll get to it one of these days.
- 59September 14th, 2007 12:47 am
Good article… reminded me that my portfolio’s 404s are still the WordPress default. Thanks for the reminder!
- 60September 14th, 2007 12:50 am
NIce list. Some of those are a bit odd or niche, though… Check out this one from a D&D website:
http://d20srd.org/asdf - 61September 14th, 2007 12:57 am
The digg effect is strong in this one. Thanks for sharing these pages. 404 doesn’t seems so bad anymore.
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- 64September 14th, 2007 1:54 am
I’ve been inspired.
I’ve always used this as my 404 page. Two parts are randomly generated from javascript.
I’m going to go home and spruce mine up a bit and give it more oomph.
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- 69September 14th, 2007 3:31 am
јебига means “fuck it!” in Serbian. I suppose the people at Rainfall Daffinson are not aware of that. ;)
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- 71September 14th, 2007 4:27 am
I find it arrogant and annoying when a website blames ME for arriving at a 404. More than once I have been sent there from within their own site, but they assume it’s either my stupidity, my inability to type, my outdated bookmark (which should be their problem, not mine) or some other sites bad link.
The sites I like admit it just could be their fault and offer me an opportunity to tell them about it.
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- 73September 14th, 2007 5:17 am
Truly a great work. I feel inspired to do my own 404 page.
Thankx - 74September 14th, 2007 5:56 am
though you cant find it the page … its good to look at …
that good … right ??
hehe …
good list … thanks for sharing … - 75
- 76September 14th, 2007 6:58 am
Here’s one that clearly shows why the website went down, devs and a Nerf war.
- 77September 14th, 2007 7:26 am
I would like to submit my own for review
http://www.hitpoints.org/thispagedoesntexist.html - 78September 14th, 2007 9:20 am
Wow! I love all the creativity that’s gone into the 404 pages. Makes me want to make some changes to mine. Thanks for the ideas.
- 79September 14th, 2007 9:54 am
Very very good. A lot of interesting ones out there. I believe the less technical, the better…
- 80September 14th, 2007 11:05 am
Freaking cool – now what about some funky BSOD!? http://www.templatestaff.com
- 81September 14th, 2007 10:33 pm
now that is what I call creative people with very interesting website, even 404 page can make people stay long on their website !
- 82September 14th, 2007 11:14 pm
The Homestar Runner one you have there isn’t a 404 error, that was a toon called The System is Down they had designed to look like a 404 error.
They do have a creative 404 error though, see 404′d at the Homestar Runner Wiki for more information.
- 83September 15th, 2007 1:00 am
It is said, “To err is human,”
That quote from alt.times.lore,
Alas, you have made an error,
So I say, “404.”Double-check your URL,
As we all have heard before.
You ask for an invalid filename,
And I respond, “404.”Perhaps you made a typo –
Your fingers may be sore –
But until you type it right,
You’ll only get 404.Maybe you followed a bad link,
Surfing a foreign shore;
You’ll just have to tell that author
About this 404.I’m just a lowly server
(Who likes to speak in metaphor),
So for a request that I don’t know,
I must return 404.Be glad I’m not an old mainframe
That might just dump its core,
Because then you’d get a ten-meg file
Instead of this 404.I really would like to help you,
But I don’t know what you’re looking for,
And since I don’t know what you want,
I give you 404.Remember Poe, insane with longing
For his tragically lost Lenore.
Instead, you quest for files.
Quoth the Raven, “404!”by Dan Black
dan@black.org
16 August 1999 - 84September 16th, 2007 2:06 am
“Shocking visitors with colors…”
The description of the first page under #8 made me pause. It sounded like they’d never seen a test-pattern from an old VCR before. And having thought about it, it seems likely that the writer never did! I recognize it, but it’s been a long time since I actually saw it in the wild. Perhaps it’s simply a thing of the past. It’s not supposed to be appealing – in its natural habitat, it’s just something that is not white noise/static, could function as a test-pattern and supposedly was easy to make. It was displayed whenever there was no signal, so using it as a 404 page makes perfect sense. =)
- 85September 16th, 2007 9:31 am
omg why orkut.com error page isnt in the list? its so funny.. says ‘bad bad server,no donut for you’ =D
- 86September 17th, 2007 6:38 pm
wicked,
nicely done - 87September 19th, 2007 7:19 am
I notice that none of those pages (as pretty as they are) provide the seo and user benefits provided by Google 404 Error Page…
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- 89September 20th, 2007 7:27 am
Thanks dweeble for the referance! I’m a BIG stickler on Copyright and Intelectual Property and wish that the page had sited the source it’s the las and a good idea. For anyone who cares it is indeed Cowboy Beebop (and anime series) The song was composed by Yoko Kanno and is avalible on the CD Blue. Though the OST1 is a much better CD
- 90September 23rd, 2007 2:42 pm
i love them.. its we freindly “negative” tone…. i’ll be looking forwar to my 404 ERRORS if thats the case… maybe they could include useful info..or we could make ads on the 4o4 error showups..hmmm . just a thought…
- 91September 24th, 2007 9:37 am
Number 8 (first one) is better than the editors give it credit for! Its TV/video test pattern that is used to calibrate monitors and systems called “colour bars”. To me it is like when your TV transmission signal drops out. A better screen would be a Test Pattern like the kind TV stations do use when theres a signal failure.
- 92September 28th, 2007 9:01 pm
How fun! Thanks for sharing. My 404 page has been “different” and humorous since the start, but I had no idea others were doing fun and creative things with theirs as well. This was enjoyable – can’t wait for the next set.
- 93September 30th, 2007 2:43 am
Very good Collection.. iwant create my 404 page ! :P
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- 97October 5th, 2007 7:30 pm
I also got inspired. I grew up with c64, so this is mine:
- 98November 17th, 2007 7:26 pm
This inspired me to create a 404 for my historical cartography website. I titled the 404: “Here be dragons”, a reference that was supposedly put on maps in unknown lands. Of course, I added a detail from such a map as well!
- 99November 27th, 2007 5:55 pm
this is good page. I like the paper & pen page and I have used it. Please let me know if you have any suggestion to put this page in blog?
- 100December 11th, 2007 5:32 pm
Brilliant post! I never really thought to put much effort in to mine, maybe i should.
Love the book one and the bsod!
- 101December 31st, 2007 11:27 am
Wow, nice list! You’ve given me inspiration to work on my 404 page now as well.
- 102January 16th, 2008 8:11 am
This 404 page has a 303 synth toy embedded!
- 103January 19th, 2008 7:05 am
Lot’s of original ideas in this list.
Here is our contribution to the world of 404s… the Magic 404 :)
- 104January 21st, 2008 4:46 pm
Also check out using your 404 page to boost your google ranking with this Google 404 plugin for wordpress.
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- 106January 25th, 2008 7:03 pm
Really inspiring! Mine should have a search box already, but I need to get more on top of this. See if I can find something more creative. :)
- 107January 30th, 2008 5:25 pm
bule screen of death , LOL
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- 110February 22nd, 2008 3:01 pm
Very impressed. These are some great designs and I been noticing in my stats
that I have been getting 1000’s of 404 error pages not found so I want to find a
way to make it more useful and at the same time, capitalize on sales and leads.Terrance Charles
- 111April 16th, 2008 8:41 am
The big problem with most of these is that it takes the user a while to realise there’s no content, because there is content specifically made to replace what obviously appears to these designers to be a negative on a 404 — the rightful lack of content.
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- 115April 27th, 2008 3:14 pm
Sooo cool. Geez I am way behind the times. Definately adding this to my to-do list.
Thx for the refs
- 116May 7th, 2008 9:47 pm
Greatness!!! There are some awesome 404’s out there…
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- 118May 22nd, 2008 11:22 am
Inspired by your post, I just put up my dramatically improved 404 page:
Thanks for the great ideas and motivation!
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- 120July 8th, 2008 6:20 pm
I caught this post again. I must say after checking out the 404 error pages and decided to use one on my main blog that get’s about 600+ unique visitors daily, I noticed a BIG increase in my conversion from lost visitors, sales, and signups… THANKS!
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- 123August 8th, 2008 2:38 am
Как избавиться от 404
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- 125August 26th, 2008 2:23 am
the best is #15!!!! loooool
- 126September 16th, 2008 12:26 pm
thank you.
- 127September 16th, 2008 8:26 pm
Im agree.
- 128September 21st, 2008 6:10 am
LOL! The Rainfall Daffinson one says “Sorry (jebiga) the page you’re trying to view is not there”
“Jebiga” means “fuck it” in Serbian >:D
- 129September 24th, 2008 2:35 pm
402 Payment Required
If you think there should be some web page at current location, contact me and I may write it for you for a minor fee.
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- 131October 7th, 2008 6:35 pm
qiang!
- 132October 14th, 2008 6:57 pm
Here is the 404 from my comics strips’ website:
http://www.mutacao.com.br/pato/php/404.php?l=en - 133October 23rd, 2008 1:39 am
Thanks barbara..u have given me an idea!
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- 135November 23rd, 2008 2:12 pm
Heres another one with a clever image – http://www.lightpostcreative.com/404
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- 137December 7th, 2008 6:35 am
This post has to be the best 404-page ressource in the internet. I haven’t seen so many error pages before like here. Thanks for the inspiring collection!
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- 140December 20th, 2008 8:20 am
Wow. Never even thought about redesigning the 404 page. Great article.
- 141December 22nd, 2008 2:58 am
I’m a bit disappointed to see all those technical “404 errors”. Does any visitor know where you are talking about? Only people who actually build websites, as well as other IT professionals know what the 404 means. Is it that hard to use a clear message the users directly understand?
Otolar - 142December 22nd, 2008 6:54 am
Great selection.
Another artistic 404 page : http://www.juergenspecht.com/?error=404Thanks for the inspiration and sharing
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- 145January 3rd, 2009 11:51 pm
If some people only knew how important a 404 error page really is, I see big companies making this mistake too, losing out on traffic and sales, after I started really using them, it’s responsible for $100’s extra monthly… I use one that I saw up here, liked the simple design.
Here’s my custom 404 page…
http://www.terrancecharles.com/blog/sm - 146
- 147January 5th, 2009 5:50 am
Ooo good error pages. Thanks for share.
- 148January 8th, 2009 3:03 pm
I made one myself I want to share – http://www.reelfishn.net/404.htm
I love the simpson one!
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- 150January 22nd, 2009 5:04 am
Great page…never new I could do so much with a 404…
- 151January 24th, 2009 2:45 pm
Well, then, never ever really thought about that 404-prob. But then, suddenly, i was pushed into the new dimension. mistyped… a 404-page… but a cute one. (sorry, the address is lost somehow — 404.) A little investigation, and i found this page full of ideas. Wanted a 404 that’s quite similar to the rest of the blog. So, here’s my 404.
- 152January 29th, 2009 11:07 am
hello everyone
does anybody know what to do when the 404 error is displayed on a site?
i mean how to fix it ¡ cause every time i try to go on my site the 404 message appears
thanks ¡ - 153February 26th, 2009 6:49 am
My favourite is the PurePwnage ;
http://www.purepwnage.com/404.html
I like the Youtube one too, I don’t think they still have it;
“Sorry, something went wrong.
A team of highly trained monkey has been dispatched to deal with this situation.
Please report this incident to customer service. “ - 154
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- 157April 1st, 2009 6:14 am
Hey, we thought this was good too! http://brunswick.com/brands/cola
Of course, cough, ahem, we, uh, thought of it here at GS Design….. (80% of this client’s base is marine related.)
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- 160April 2nd, 2009 10:10 pm
Wow! Thanx a lot! Very useful article for inspiration. Look at my 404 Error Page: Link
- 161April 17th, 2009 3:23 am
Great! i will use them for my blog.
- 162April 17th, 2009 8:18 pm
thx
:)
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- 164April 23rd, 2009 11:12 pm
And in antique art it looks like this, please see http://www.antiken-kabinett.de/error-page.htm
- 165May 1st, 2009 11:18 am
Should have included Homestar’s REAL 404 page (just as funny as “system is down” : http://www.homestarrunner.com/404
- 166May 1st, 2009 5:19 pm
I created a custom 404 page for my website running on Wordpress. Check it out at Source47.com
- 167May 24th, 2009 11:56 am
I’m pretty sure that Rainfall guys are aware of the fact that “jebiga” means “fu#k it” simply because they’re from Republika srpska (one of two entities in Bosnia and Herzegovina) where Serbian is official language. LOL
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- 172June 16th, 2009 6:16 am
Muitoo bom mesmo
adorei - 173June 17th, 2009 7:06 pm
How about a nice, clean design with a little humor? http://www.rareview.com/nopage
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- 175June 26th, 2009 3:34 am
smashingmagazine 404 is not at all creative……………..U dint intend it that ways ?
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- 177July 8th, 2009 5:10 pm
This was a fantastic comp, and well done to all who entered. What’s involved in the copyright of these? If I wanted to use an idea for it (for example, the book one, ‘page not found’) am I allowed to? Is it just a matter of crediting?
- 178July 12th, 2009 11:39 am
You guys can include my website to http://www.net-breeze.com/about/dsfdsdfggh
- 179July 12th, 2009 4:05 pm
A new idea. 404Toons to help you customize your 404 page. They are free. Thought you might enjoy them. http://www.404toons.com.
- 180July 14th, 2009 6:34 am
Thanks guys for your postings. I want to show to you one more beautiful error page 404 idea http://www.kontain.com/bickov/entries/36756/page-404/
- 181July 14th, 2009 4:28 pm
Here’s ours for ProWorkflow (project management)
http://proworkflow.com/abc.cfmWe have an orange theme going…
- 182July 15th, 2009 11:11 am
Well ours is not online yet but we hope it makes the next list
404 screen shot for new site - 183
- 184July 28th, 2009 12:08 pm
My favourite:
“You have reached the end of the Internet.”
Some other good ones at:
http://www.gamewyrd.com/archives/wyrderrors.php - 185
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- 187August 28th, 2009 5:07 am
Great idea !
Here is my customised my 404 page.
I’ve used a picture of the famous Peugeot 404 and write the story of this famous vehcile (text from Wikipedia)
Very relevant because lmy blog is in French and all frenchies knows about the Peugeot 404 :-)
Here is the URL : http://www.electronic-illusions.be/blog/404.php
Tell me what do you think
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- 189September 9th, 2009 3:21 am
Check one more beautiful error page 404 idea http://www.moinid.com/2009/09/error-page-404-idea
- 190September 9th, 2009 12:34 pm
Its always nice to see something that makes a frustrating situation that little bit more bearable. Ive always loved the retro styling of the BBCs: http://www.bbc.co.uk/404 A true hats off to the days before News 24 :)
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- 192September 14th, 2009 10:49 pm
I love this:
http://www.muvi.cz/chybova-stranka.htm
It’s in czech. Muvi is webTV :-)
- 193September 23rd, 2009 1:54 pm
Amazing, I’ll post mine: http://www.equipe-s.com/somethingwrong .
Made with Swift3d and Fireworks… - 194October 6th, 2009 7:56 am
Great posting! I will work on my own page and post it here soon… lets hope i can be as original as these guys. I think all sites should have custom 404 pages. A site i go to has nothing and they should. I dont know how many members they have but for sure over 300 000… how many 404 errors are generated, surelly a lot! Oh well… New posting coming soon with my page.
Cheers!
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- 197October 26th, 2009 2:16 pm
I love the 404 with all the clutter… might have to try one with that as a concept.
“OH NOEZ!” This one’s pretty good!
http://www.myfreelife.com/404 - 198October 29th, 2009 1:40 pm
this one’s from the News Tribune of Seattle. and it appears that kittens are in an upswing on the job market.
- 199November 1st, 2009 10:06 pm
Check out our new 404 page for when you can’t find the latest t-shirt: http://riptapparel.com/404
Love the redesign!
- 200November 9th, 2009 11:52 am
Check out a random 404 at RacWire.com, I hit one by accident and could not stop laughing,
- 201November 17th, 2009 10:26 am
This page also pretty good, and very funny…
http://www.konuttakas.com/404/
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Wow, nice selection. This has got me inspired to work on my 404 page. Thank you.