404: Page not found – Bummer!

Who doesn’t know the probably most (in)famous internet error message – “404: Page not found”. Reading this message usually causes annoyance and disappointment. But this might be a thing of the past now! According to an article on ChannelPartner, more and more webmasters use their creative abilities to design new and inventive error messages.

The creative designs can not solve the problem, but at least they can counter the disappointment by making us laugh.

IDG has compiled some of the funniest and most creative error messages and published them in a slide show. You can also find your own favourites by searching for “Error 404” online – from black holes and machine responses to Homer Simpson and other cartoons and caricatures (almost) every style is presented!

My favourite, however, is the “Houston we have a problem!” design with a space-shuttle picture – implying the user is “lost in space”. And that’s exactly how we sometimes feel like, isn’t it?

Sophie Schmid – GlobalCom Germany

last modified July 26, 2010