{"id":11382,"date":"2014-10-23T16:09:33","date_gmt":"2014-10-23T16:09:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/round-lake.dustinice.workers.dev:443\/http\/developer.wordpress.org\/?post_type=theme-handbook&p=11382"},"modified":"2015-10-17T22:07:19","modified_gmt":"2015-10-17T22:07:19","slug":"404-pages","status":"publish","type":"theme-handbook","link":"https:\/\/round-lake.dustinice.workers.dev:443\/https\/developer.wordpress.org\/themes\/classic-themes\/functionality\/404-pages\/","title":{"rendered":"404 Pages"},"content":{"rendered":"

A 404 page is important to add into your theme in case a user stumbles upon a page that doesn’t exist or hasn’t been created yet. It is also important that your 404 page gives your visitors a way to arrive at the right place.<\/p>\n

These next few steps will help you build a useful 404 page for your WordPress theme.<\/p>\n

Creating the 404.php file<\/h2>\n

As the 404.php<\/code> file is used on a page not found error, the first step is to create a file named 404.php<\/code> and add it to your WordPress theme folder.<\/p>\n\n

\n
<\/div>\n

Often times a great starting point for your 404.php<\/code> is your index.php<\/code><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

Add a file header<\/h2>\n

To use your theme’s header.php<\/code> file, open your 404.php<\/code> file. At the top, add a comment describing what the file is and make sure you include your theme’s header.<\/p>\n

For example:<\/p>\n

\/**\n * The template for displaying 404 pages (Not Found)\n *\/\nget_header();<\/code><\/pre>\n
Adding the body to your 404 Page<\/h2>\n
To make the 404 page functional you have to add the body content to your template:<\/p>\n
Example:<\/p>\n
<div id="primary" class="content-area">\n\t\t<div id="content" class="site-content" role="main">\n\n\t\t\t<header class="page-header">\n\t\t\t\t<h1 class="page-title"><?php _e( 'Not Found', 'twentythirteen' ); ?><\/h1>\n\t\t\t<\/header>\n\n\t\t\t<div class="page-wrapper">\n\t\t\t\t<div class="page-content">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2><?php _e( 'This is somewhat embarrassing, isn\u2019t it?', 'twentythirteen' ); ?><\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t<p><?php _e( 'It looks like nothing was found at this location. Maybe try a search?', 'twentythirteen' ); ?><\/p>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<?php get_search_form(); ?>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div><!-- .page-content -->\n\t\t\t<\/div><!-- .page-wrapper -->\n\n\t\t<\/div><!-- #content -->\n\t<\/div><!-- #primary --><\/code><\/pre>\n
This example is from the Twenty Thirteen theme that comes with WordPress. This adds some text and a search form in the 404 page.<\/p>\n\n
\n
<\/div>\n
You can to add your own text to make your 404 page look better.<\/div><\/div>\n\n
Adding the footer and sidebar.<\/h2>\n
The final step when creating a 404 page is to add the footer. You may also add a sidebar if you want.<\/p>\n
Example:<\/p>\n
get_sidebar();\nget_footer();<\/code><\/pre>\n
Now you have a functional 404 page with a search form and some text in case a user stumbles upon the wrong page. Once you make sure the 404.php<\/code> has been uploaded, you can test your 404 page. Just type a URL address for your website that doesn’t exist. You can try something like https:\/\/round-lake.dustinice.workers.dev:443\/http\/example.com\/fred.php<\/code>. This is sure to result in a 404 error unless you actually have a PHP file called fred.php.<\/code><\/code><\/p>\n
 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12560283,"featured_media":0,"parent":5819,"menu_order":0,"template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-11382","theme-handbook","type-theme-handbook","status-publish","hentry","type-handbook"],"revision_note":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/round-lake.dustinice.workers.dev:443\/https\/developer.wordpress.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/theme-handbook\/11382","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/round-lake.dustinice.workers.dev:443\/https\/developer.wordpress.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/theme-handbook"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/round-lake.dustinice.workers.dev:443\/https\/developer.wordpress.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/theme-handbook"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/round-lake.dustinice.workers.dev:443\/https\/developer.wordpress.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12560283"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/round-lake.dustinice.workers.dev:443\/https\/developer.wordpress.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/theme-handbook\/11382\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":138747,"href":"https:\/\/round-lake.dustinice.workers.dev:443\/https\/developer.wordpress.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/theme-handbook\/11382\/revisions\/138747"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/round-lake.dustinice.workers.dev:443\/https\/developer.wordpress.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/theme-handbook\/5819"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/round-lake.dustinice.workers.dev:443\/https\/developer.wordpress.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/round-lake.dustinice.workers.dev:443\/https\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}