Jakob Neilsen, the grandfather of web usability (sorry Jakob) has been preaching about relevant 404 error pages since 1998. It’s taken awhile for his wise words to take hold. The standard application of a 404 page error (a 404 page is a page that has been requested but no longer or does not exist) is to either have the browser return the error or to have a generic page from the web site that says someting intelligent like, “404 page error.”

Not good.

But good news. Web sites are growing up. They’re even getting funny (yet practical). Pattern Tap, a web site dedicated to finding “tasty design” highlights great 404 error pages. Merge’s 404 page recently was honored to join the ranks on Pattern Tap with fellow Greenville web design firm, OrangeCoat (see their 404 page).

Here’s to getting lost!

Bottom Line: Account for usability, even when things could go wrong.