How do I implement custom 404 messages? Meaning, if a link to another file doesnt work, how do I implement the file that comes up and says "oops, we couldnt find that file" Like this:
You need an ErrorDocument directive in your .htaccess file: for example the above would return /404.php for any 404 errors. Note that it can be a script and do actual things with the URL, such as generate a mail to the webmaster or try to suggest a substitute, redirect a moved page, or whatever. The manual: http://httpd.apache.org/docs/mod/core.html#errordocument Fun error pages collected: area 404 403 and other errors can have their own pages too, of course.
Here is a tutorial on how to do it: http://www.plinko.net/404/custom.asp There are script's that will email you when an error occurs [ 401, 403, 404, etc. ], most of them are free: http://www.hotscripts.com/Perl/Scripts_and_Programs/Error_Handling/
I tried to do this recently and it didn't work so well... I did it server wide - so the ErrorDocument line waqs in http.conf not a .htaccess file. I tried to use an shtml page i'd found an instruction to build from the apache website...but it didn't really work. It was supposed to display the name of the url you tried to find but it couldn't, an detect whether you came there from a link or typed it directly. didn't really work.... only thing it did do right was display the correct time... I really must learn how to code things properly again, I haven't done any web developement is earnest since i was 17, 4 years ago.
