Just admit it, you wish to come across a 404 error page providing it was Bluegg. It’s of a rare fun, one of the few pages that could make a fault and still be held highly among the ranks of heavy-hitters like Blogger and LiveJournal. And yes, this reputation is built largely on that perfectly tailored yet amusing style — a mistake with a pleasant attitude that we’ve all come to enjoy and know. For doing so, we’re to take a look at 3 hypnotic ways to delight visitors with your 404 web failure.

Why Not Make Fun?

Sometimes, developing your personal 404 error page is about emulating well-mastered sites, before taking the full control over the reins. Slowly, but surely, you’ll learn that the real key to a magnetizing 404 isn’t in flashy templates or grand excuses. It’s about sweating positive emotions: what do you feel when in sudden to come upon a fault, and, definitely, whether you’re going to have the desire to make a stay. While these days, the 404 error as a practical page to visit is not a necessity, it’s still a finishing touch that helps separate the just well-functioning web project from a capturing and an exemplary one. Here are some fun apologies for broken links for your visitors to surprise:

Personal site of Information Architect Henrik Hedegaard

henrik-hedegaard-404-error-page

Catswhocode

catswhocode-404-error-page

A Few Words On Entertainment

There’s very little mystery to a hypnotic 404 page: don’t try too hard and let it look engaging. At the opposite end, along with the opportunity to entertain, your brief distraction is to make the person forget he even reached an error.

Upon initial inspection, we get to see the coolest absorbing fault of Blue Daniel with the use of cinema and animation. The marvel of this 404 page is that you might not even know it is actually an error, and that’s the ultimate intention.

There are not enough hours in a day to even scratch the spent on gaming, and landing on a wrong functioned page can be a barrel of fun. Here is one more game-changing Pacman fault of Blue Fountain creative approach for you not to overthink but play. The distraction helps to relieve frustration from not ending up where you were expecting. But maybe most interestingly, some feel like their loss was the best thing that could have happened.

Next Stop: Functionality

Could the next web gap be averted by a functionally designed 404 error page? That’s the idea behind Starbucks and Mozilla. A fault made up to inform the visitor what could have potentially happened. Now, statistically, most non-techies are given a number of options for what they could do next, providing with an invitation to leave a feedback from the page directly. In the meanwhile, Mozilla seizes an ample time to convert leads by coming straight with a direct download link for its browser. Then again, your site’s error is what you make it, and that’s a great way to a wandered traveler delight.  

Hard Work Pays Off

Whether you’re a few weeks into growing your big online project, or are actively participating in its raise for years – this compilation was aimed at raising awareness around website details – the 404 pages treasury is ready for your error gem. Case in point: on taking more hypnotic chances with 404 error pages, below we list 12 more appealing ones that made us want to stay:

  1. Teehan Lax
  2. Lego
  3. Rechat de Mobile
  4. Smashy Design
  5. 9GAG
  6. HotDot
  7. Inside Basket
  8. TurboMilk
  9. Frantic

Grab chances now and migrate your CMS (if needed) to power up your site to the smoothies details.