Creating your Own Error Page

When certain pages of our site do not load properly, I am sometimes seeing a full 404 error (page not found) and sometimes I am getting an image that says "screenshot of website".

It seems like it depends on whether the page loads like http://www.kdbs.org/page222 (where I get the full error) or like http://www.kdbs.org/page/222 (where I get the "screenshot of website").

I would like to resolve this issue so that when a page not found error is supposed to display, it displays properly and the user does not see the "screenshot of website" image.

I want the ability to customize the 404 error pages, like we were able to in Podium.

  • Guest
  • Aug 25 2015
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  • Guest commented
    August 08, 2023 17:06

    Additionally, all of Blackbaud's own email marketing services cause these redirects to 404 because of the appended code. This is absolutely ridiculous.

  • Guest commented
    August 08, 2023 16:52

    Any updates on custom 404 error pages? This is an 8 year old topic and "suggest an idea" is not an acceptable answer.

  • Jeff Gaudet commented
    July 08, 2021 15:25

    Do we have any further updates on this? Thank you


  • Colleen McNeil commented
    January 17, 2020 17:20

    It would be helpful to be able to customize this with links to the sitemap or directory, or other useful pages. That's pretty basic web design best practices, and something that it should be available for schools to craft for themselves if desired.

  • Rachel Welsh commented
    January 06, 2020 19:18

    @BlackbaudFriends - any updates on this?

  • Anthony Gallo commented
    January 29, 2019 20:21

    We have reached out a a few schools and got very similar feedback.  Reporting did come up for sure.  We might not have the granularity as to what page caused the error but we might add something to the website statistics page for errors.  This is still being figured out but yes, we will make sure we get some type of data related to this if we can.  It might not be right away but it is something we would love to add.  

  • Guest commented
    January 29, 2019 20:16

    Thanks for keeping us updated, Anthony. I'm so glad to see that this is coming to fruition. Will you be reaching out to users for input on functionality? There's also a desire for reports if that's possible. :)

  • Anthony Gallo commented
    January 29, 2019 20:01

    Hello Everyone,

    We have done some initial discovery on this one and are getting closer to finding a way to roll this out.  We should be starting development work on this in February using some of the landing page functionality.  I just wanted to update the group on the progress.  This is not a 2019 roadmap item but we definitely want to start the year off on a good note and we are going to sneak this one in.  

  • Guest commented
    September 04, 2018 15:09

    This is a huge oversight on the design of a web platform. Very confusing to end users. Customizing these pages should be a given in any template.

  • Guest commented
    July 24, 2018 18:20

    Yay! Thank you, Anthony! Please keep us updated on the progress!

  • Anthony Gallo commented
    July 24, 2018 18:00

    Definitely seeing the demand and need here.  We just finished up a few things and we are going to take a look at the onMessage idea board after the user conference.  I am planning on getting to this during the second half of this year.  Not sure on timing yet but it is something I would like to get done as soon as possible.  

  • Guest commented
    July 24, 2018 17:43

    +1, Kim! Are there any updates on this? Why has it taken three years to implement? This is crucial for several reasons as listed above by Raffi. 

  • Guest commented
    July 16, 2018 15:36

    Seems like a crucial part of any website. What's the holdup?

  • Julie Horvath commented
    April 24, 2018 16:38

    Getting the generic 404 page feels old and dated in the user experience landscape.

  • Lauren Koppelman commented
    April 24, 2018 13:41

    I agree - this is a UX issue. If a user is browsing around a school page and then bumps into a 404 error page showing the branding for a totally different organization, they might think that the link is a phishing attempt or some other infiltration. At very least, they would be confused upon landing on seemingly another company's page.

  • Colleen McNeil commented
    February 08, 2018 13:54

    This kind of customization should also allow us to run a report on this kind of error page, which will help to identify pages with broken links on them. Right now there is no method for identifying pages with links that are broken, which is frustrating for users and content editors.

  • Guest commented
    February 01, 2018 16:44

    A few reasons why we'd brand our 404 error pages:

    • Marketing
    • branding
    • conversion rates
    • less confusion for users about where they are
    • So users are less frustrated that they got a 404
    • To try to keep people on our site
    • To add a message that says perhaps they need to just hit refresh
    • To have a link back to our home page...
  • Audra Harris commented
    December 14, 2017 14:28

    I came on board after the switch from Podium, but it would be great to create a custom 404 page, much more professional.

  • Guest commented
    September 26, 2017 14:53

    It's ridiculous that this even needs to be requested.

  • Alexander Taft commented
    August 15, 2017 20:30

    Hoping another post helps bring more attention to this. We can't even track 404s via tag manager and the page doesn't include any of our trackings code. This really is bothersome. Thanks for considering!

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