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How to Write a User-Friendly "File Not Found" Page

(E-WRITE)When my recent search for USAID information on preparing your family for an avian flu pandemic dead-ended in a 404 "File Not Found" page, I expected to head back to the drawing board: Google. Then I took a closer look at USAID's error message page.

Rather than stranding the user, it tries to help by:

Linking to the USAID home page where the user may be able to get her bearings and start the search again
Linking to the site map, which may seem like a "vintage" method of way-finding but which some users actually prefer
Linking to the Help Desk, a page that explains in easy-to-read text what each of the main content categories contains, what drop-downs are, and the right-hand navigation relates to the content on each page
Providing a search field and allowing the user to search all/part of the USAID web site or the Internet instead.

Now THAT's attention to detail.

Unfortunately, I never did find the exact avian flu page I had been looking for, but I did use the search field in the "File Not Found" page to find other relevant info.

Do you have a favorite "File Not Found" page? (Am I really asking this question?!) If so, e-mail us and we'll add it to this article.

(c) E-WRITE, 2004 - 2010.

Marilynne Rudick and Leslie O'Flahavan are partners in E-WRITE, a training and consulting company that specializes in writing for online readers. Rudick and O'Flahavan are authors of Clear, Correct, Concise E-Mail: A Writing Workbook for Customer Service Agents

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