Face it, things don't always go as planned. Things break, puzzle pieces get lost, people you taught to play chess so that you could beat them end up beating you. When things go wrong it isn't what you say that counts, its what you do.

Two of the most common breakages in the internet that users will see firsthand are 404 and 403 pages. To those unfamiliar with the (not-so)secret language of the internet, 404 is a dead end, and 403 is a locked door. Because of the rough and abrasive nature of the default pages in stark contrast to the now ubiquitous gloss and sheen of the internet, we all hope that our users will never have to see these again.

But we do, now what?

Broken websites reflect poorly on your business. To the average user computers 'just work'. They are now amazingly complex and simplistic to use at the same time. When something breaks, it is your fault, not theirs. Often this is true, but even when its not, how do you keep a good face on it?

Hope for the best and prepare for the worst, stay aware be alert. The fact that you can create custom error pages isn't really news. They've been around longer than the internet. So why am I writing this? I've seen too many default pages. I'm burnt out. I want to see a beautiful seamless web from start to finish.

So what makes a good error page?

Well for starts, take the sting out of failure. Each business will have a different approach that will work for it, but humor in some form is usually a good start. Users would rather laugh at a joke than bash their head into their desk in frustration. Well most of them.

After you've calmed them down and stopped the violent outbursts the next step is to tell them the answer to their question : "What the hell!?" This step can quite easily be incorporated into the first. Don't get caught up in the technical details. (Almost) Nobody cares. Just let them know, visually and textually if possible, that this is not what they are looking for, so they can save their heavy processing until they find it.

Now to the meat. What meat? By definition an error page is not what the user is looking for, and doesn't have the stuff they're looking for [some exceptions apply]. Moreover its like opening up the fridge to look for food, only to find an empty left over container.

But a good error page will still have some crumbs in it. At the very least a link to the root of the site, but also good are site maps, search boxes, menus, and common links. Hopefully errors aren't that common for you though.

Traffic Control

Another key aspect to a good error page is how quickly the user can get away from it. It's not a stopping point, its a layover. The 404/403/etc0etc is just there to let them know something went wrong and help them on their way as fast as possible. Nothing to see here, move along.

Sometimes providing a good user experience is providing as little experience as possible.

For examples of the best 404 and 403 I've ever seen on the web, check this out.