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[Adam Friend AdamJoin date: August 2013Posts: 29Downloads:13Uploads:0 Thanks: 2]

#191129

Hi,

I need help changing the contents and picture of the 404 Error page.

I know this has already been covered here but the information on the previous thread was a bit too advanced for me as I am a very basic user.

I have located the source PSD File which allows me to change the images and text on the 404 page but I think there’s more too it than that, such as changing php files through cpanel and/or back end.

If someone could walk me through step by step how to change the image and text and make a basic link back to a page of my choice I would be very grateful.

Regards,

Adam

[TomC Moderator TomCJoin date: October 2014Posts: 14077Downloads:58Uploads:137 Thanks: 948 Thanked: 3155 times in 2495 posts]

#507927

Perhaps the following video tutorial may be of assistance . . . .

[TomC Moderator TomCJoin date: October 2014Posts: 14077Downloads:58Uploads:137 Thanks: 948 Thanked: 3155 times in 2495 posts]

#507928

otherwise, the following is a helpful step-by-step tutorial – courtesy of OSTraining.org

By default, Joomla does not provide a 404 page that you can easily create and manage.

A 404 is really useful for guiding your visitors when they visit a broken URL on your site.

I’m going to demonstrate how to create a custom 404 page.

We’re going to create an article, add a menu link and then add a little code to a file in your template folder.

Step 1: Create an article

The first step in creating a custom 404 page is to create a new article.

• Title: Create something that is specific to Error 404 since it may be displayed as your browsers title bar.
• Alias: Type in a simple alias, such as 404.
• Category: You can use Uncategorised or create another category.
• Article Text: Add your 404 image or text, or design it however you’d like. In this example, I made my own funny 404 image.

Step 2: Edit Metadata Options

• On the same article, look at the right column and click on the “Metadata Options” tab.
• Select “No index, no follow” to prevent this particular page to be indexed in search engines.
• Save and Close.

Step 3: Create a Hidden Menu

You can view our tutorial on how to create a Hidden menu here.

• Menu Item Type – Select your Error 404 Page article.
• Menu Title – Anything you’d like, such as Error 404 Page.
• Alias – Type in a simple alias, such as 404.

Make sure this menu is not published in a module position so it is not displayed.

Step 3: Copy the Link

Copy the URL from your menu and store it on a notepad since you will be using this URL in your error.php file.

Step 4: Edit the error.php File

Find your error.php file.Usually it is located in “templates/YourTemplate/system/error.php” or in “templates/YourTemplate/error.php”.
If you don’t have an error.php file, create it in this folder: templates/YourTemplate/error.php.
Please make sure that you have this security code at the top of the file:
1.defined( ‘_JEXEC’ ) or die( ‘Restricted access’);

Now we need our 404 page code.
For Joomla 2.5 use this code:
1.if ($this->error->getCode() == 404) { header(‘Location: /theURLtoYour404Page’); exit; }

For Joomla 3.0 use this code:
1.if ($this->error->code == 404) { header(‘Location: /theURLtoYour404Page’); exit; }

Step 5: Test Your 404

Type in a URL such as yoursite.com/blahblahblah to be redirected to your custom 404 page.

In this example, I used my 404.jpg file. As you can see, I’m not much of a graphic artist, but it gets the point across.

Congratulations! You now know how to create custom 404 pages.

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