The server uses error pages to display to a user when it encounters an error with what they are trying to do on your site. There are many types of error that our servers can generate but the most common ones are:
- 301 - The page has been moved Permanently
- 401 - The user does not have permission to view the file/directory.
- 404 - The page could not be found (bad URL).
- 500 - One of your scripts is not functioning properly, and is returning an Internal Server Error.
You can create custom error pages and modify what is displayed to your users by adding custom error handling to the .htaccess in your public_html directory or by using the tool in the advanced section of your cPanel.
To customise your error pages using the built in tool:
- Login to cPanel.
- Click on "Error Pages" in the advanced section.
- Click on the error page you want to modify, let's take for example the 404 page which displays when a page does not exist.
- Enter any text you want to display, you should probably in the case of a 404 put in "The page (then click on the "Requested URL* button) is unavailable" and add any design around that which you want.
- Clicking on the save button should take you through to a verification page.
