Designing Active Server Pages

Creating Custom HTTP Error Pages

As discussed in Section 3.2.2 earlier, when an ASP error occurs on a web page, an HTTP 500;100 error is signaled. If you correctly set up an error-handling web page through the Internet Services Manager, IIS will automatically send the user to the specified error-handling web page via a Server.Transfer.

Of course there are several other types of HTTP errors besides 500;100. One of the most common errors is the HTTP 404 error, which results when a client requests a page not found on the web server. There is nothing as annoying or frustrating as the default HTTP 404 error page, which is shown in Figure 3.8.

Figure 3-8. The default 404 error page serves as a dead end, frustrating users

The default 404 error page is ugly and serves as a dead end for your users. A much better approach is to provide your visitors with a custom 404 error page that apologizes for the page not being found and provides links to relevant sections on the site. Relevant sections might include a search page or a listing of popular resources on the site. The vast majority of large web sites realize the importance of custom 404 error pages. You can see some examples of real-world custom 404 error pages at the following URLs:

• http://www.yahoo.com/NotAValidURL

• http://espn.go.com/NotAValidURL

• http://www.4guysfromrolla.com/NotAValidURL

Custom 404 pages, unlike custom HTTP 500;100 error ...