Saw this awesome gallery of creative 404 pages this morning.

Honestly, it's not something I ever thought about before. I always operated under the mindset of making sure my code is tight so that all of my links are correct, therefore the user will never see the 404 page. After looking through this gallery and reviewing the comments after, I definitely don't think that way anymore.

These people have the right idea. I especially liked the #35 comment from user "Mike":

"...it says a lot about attention to detail to see companies that design their own 404′s"

That really made me rethink my position.  As your site grows in size and complexity, I'm sure it is inevitable that a user will come up upon the dreaded 404. No one is perfect. Mistakes are made. So...I thought about the times when I've encountered a 404. When it was plain and generic, I felt like I had been dumped out of the site, kind of the equivalent of navigating through a voice-prompt phone system and being hung up without warning. Designing a 404 makes you feel as though you are still within the site, adding to the overall user experience. 

My question is - how do you specifiy the 404? Do you just make a page called 404.html and the site will just use that? Or is this something that has to be specified on the web server? I hope I remember to ask Ted in class.

Anyway, here are some of my favorites, in case you don't feel like going to the link above and/or reading the comments:

Grats! You broke it!

Monkey Butt

Horribly, Horribly Wrong

An interactive one!

Arrr...Treasure Be, Mateys

Ninjas!  And I love the bizarre poetry below it:

Homer!

Plankton! F is for fire that burns down the whole town, U is for uranium bombs... sing it with me!

Bad, bad widdle birdie!

PS.  See you soon LOL!

Possibly the best one.  Who doesn't love cute little ninjas reigning adorable terror?

I love the term "douche bag" (and "douch nozzle") but is it really wise to call your user that, when it is your fault as a coder?  I thought it was sort of insulting, and if anything should have at least shared douche baggery responsibility (ie.."Ooops, looks like we're douche bags!")

Another, but not as good, list from Smashing Magazine is here.