How did 404 errors get their name?

Question

How did 404 errors get their name?

Answer 1

Nice question!



It's HTML coding.



The first 4 indicates a client error. The server is saying that you've done something wrong, such as misspell the URL or request a page which is no longer there. Conversely, a 5xx error indicates a server-side problem. It also indicates an error which may be transient; if you try it again, it may work.



The middle 0 refers to a general syntax error. This could indicate a spelling mistake.



The last 4 just indicates the specific error in the group of 40x, which also includes 400: Bad Request, 401: Unauthorized, etc.

Answer 2

When communicating via HTTP, a server is required to respond to a request, such as a web browser's request for an HTML document (web page), with a numeric response code and an email-like MIME message. In the code 404, the first "4" indicates a client error, such as a mistyped URL. The following two digits indicate the specific error encountered. HTTP's use of three-digit codes is similar to the use of such codes in earlier protocols such as FTP and NNTP.



At the HTTP level, a 404 response code is followed by a human-readable "reason phrase". The HTTP specification suggests the phrase "Not Found"[1] and many web servers by default issue an HTML page that includes both the 404 code and the "Not Found" phrase. Webservers can typically be configured to display a more natural description, a branded page or sometimes a search form, but the protocol level phrase, which is hidden from the user, is rarely customized.



Internet Explorer (before Internet Explorer 7), however, will not display custom pages unless they are larger than 512 bytes, opting to instead display a "friendly" error page. This default behaviour can be changed under Tools | Internet Options by clicking on the Advanced tab and un-checking the "Show friendly HTTP error messages" check box.



A 404 error is often returned when pages have been moved or deleted. In the first case, a better response is to return a 301 Moved Permanently response, which can be configured in most server configuration files, or through URL rewriting; in the second case, a 410 Gone should be returned. Because these two options require special server configuration, most websites do not make use of them.



404 errors should not be confused with DNS errors, which appear when the given URL refers to a webserver which does not exist. These are not 404 errors, which are always returned by a webserver.



The term "404", incidentally, is also sometimes used as an obscure gibe, the implication being that nobody's home upstairs: "He's a 404."

Answer 3

What does 404 mean?

404 is an HTTP status code. Every time you visit a web page, your computer (the 'client') is requesting data from a server using HTTP, or Hypertext Transfer Protocol. Before the web page is even displayed in your browser, the web server has sent the HTTP header, which contains the status code. Not surprisingly, your browser has sent the server its own headers, which contain a lot more information about you than you think!

For a normal web page, the status is 200 OK. You don't see this because the server proceeds to send you the contents of the page. It's only when you encounter an error that you see the actual status code, such as 404 Not Found.



So where do status codes come from?

HTTP status codes were established by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) in 1992, as a part of the HTTP 0.9 spec. They were defined by Tim Berners-Lee, the same person who single-handedly invented the web and the first web browser in 1990. We at the 404 Research Lab like to think of him as The Man Who Made All Of This Possible.



Berners-Lee based the HTTP status codes on FTP status codes, which were already well established by 1990; the official FTP spec is dated 1985, although FTP has actually been in use much longer.



What do the numbers mean?

Let's dissect 404.



The first 4 indicates a client error. The server is saying that you've done something wrong, such as misspell the URL or request a page which is no longer there. Conversely, a 5xx error indicates a server-side problem. It also indicates an error which may be transient; if you try it again, it may work.



The middle 0 refers to a general syntax error. This could indicate a spelling mistake.



The last 4 just indicates the specific error in the group of 40x, which also includes 400: Bad Request, 401: Unauthorized, etc.



Room 404 asserts that 404 was named after a room at CERN (if you read about Tim Berners-Lee above, you'll know that that's where the web began) where the original web servers were located. However, Tom S. tells us:





"Having visited CERN myself, I can tell you that Room 404 is not on the fourth floor - the CERN office numbering system doesn't work like that - the first digit usually refers to the *building* number (ie. building 4), and the second two to the office number. But, strangely, there is no room "04" in building "4", the offices start at "410" and work upwards - don't ask me why. Sorry to disappoint you all, but there is no Room 404 in CERN - it simply doesn't exist, and certainly hasn't been preserved as "the place where the web began". In fact, there *is* a display about this, including a model of the first NeXT server, but the whole "Room 404" thing is just a myth."

According to the W3C, 404 Not Found is only supposed to be used in cases where the server cannot find the requested location and is unsure of its status. If a page has permanently been deleted, it is supposed to use 410: Gone to indicate a permanent change. But has anyone ever seen 410? It must be 404...



What are the other status codes?

You can find a detailed explanation here.



How can I use status codes?

If you have access to the logfiles for your website, take a look at them. You'll find that one of the fields is the HTTP status code. Look and see if anyone visiting your site got a 404. If you notice that there are consistent errors, look and see what the referring document is. Do you have a broken link on your site? Does another site link to you with a misspelled URL? These are things you can correct easily, which will help prevent 404 errors on your website. For more tips on 404 errors, visit 404 Pros.

Answer 4

Room 404

Answer 5

I watch or read everything...I love finding out new stuff.

Answer 6

While it's true that some t.v. programs are better at informing and portraying than literature, literature in themselves are a getaway. I personally would take a booklet over t.v.

Answer 7

This Site Might Help You.



RE:

How did 404 errors get their name?

Is there some significance to the number 404? Please include links.

Answer 8

status code over internet. some one trying to access content not available on internet it shows 404 error

Answer 9

When a group of young scientists at CERN (Switzerland) started developing an internal network, which turned out to be the World Wide Web, as we know it today, they physically situated different functions of the protocol into different rooms of the CERN offices. The central database was on the fourth floor in room 404. There a couple of people managed the requests and transfered files through the internal network. A standard message: “Room 404: file not found” was shown to all faulty requests. This translated as “We in room 404 cannot locate and transfer the requested file”.



When WWW expanded to cover the globe, and the HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol) was released, the error code 404 was preserved for Not Found.



Of course there are people who call this theory an "urban legend" and that there was never a room 404 at CERN.



What is sure is that the 404 error was officially adopted in 1992 and first appeared in the version 0.9 HTTP. In simple terms HTTP code 404 means: Page Not Found. But HTTP 404 is actually two phrases: Client Error and Not Found. The first 4 is the error class (Client Error), and 04 is the specific error (Not Found).



http://www.evs-translations.com/blog-com/404/

Answer 10

There are standards for everything including error messages...



1xx - Information (like 101 - protocol switch)



2xx - Accepted / Success (Like "200 Ok" success signal)



3xx - Redirect (like 301 Moved Permanently)



4xx - Client Error (Client's request is not valid..does not exist etc...this is where u get 404 error - requested page cannot be found)



5xx - Server Error (Client sends valid request..but server is unable to process it...like 500 Internal Server Error or 501 not implemented error)

Answer 11

Here is the answer:



What is 404, anyway?

Where did it come from?

What do the numbers mean?

What are the other status codes?

How can I use status codes?

All POS hardware including barcode scanners and barcode printers can be found at National Barcode. Keep your inventory in check with barcode software.





What does 404 mean?

404 is an HTTP status code. Every time you visit a web page, your computer (the 'client') is requesting data from a server using HTTP, or Hypertext Transfer Protocol. Before the web page is even displayed in your browser, the web server has sent the HTTP header, which contains the status code. Not surprisingly, your browser has sent the server its own headers, which contain a lot more information about you than you think!

For a normal web page, the status is 200 OK. You don't see this because the server proceeds to send you the contents of the page. It's only when you encounter an error that you see the actual status code, such as 404 Not Found.



So where do status codes come from?

HTTP status codes were established by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) in 1992, as a part of the HTTP 0.9 spec. They were defined by Tim Berners-Lee, the same person who single-handedly invented the web and the first web browser in 1990. We at the 404 Research Lab like to think of him as The Man Who Made All Of This Possible.



Berners-Lee based the HTTP status codes on FTP status codes, which were already well established by 1990; the official FTP spec is dated 1985, although FTP has actually been in use much longer.



What do the numbers mean?

Let's dissect 404.



The first 4 indicates a client error. The server is saying that you've done something wrong, such as misspell the URL or request a page which is no longer there. Conversely, a 5xx error indicates a server-side problem. It also indicates an error which may be transient; if you try it again, it may work.



The middle 0 refers to a general syntax error. This could indicate a spelling mistake.



The last 4 just indicates the specific error in the group of 40x, which also includes 400: Bad Request, 401: Unauthorized, etc.



Room 404 asserts that 404 was named after a room at CERN (if you read about Tim Berners-Lee above, you'll know that that's where the web began) where the original web servers were located. However, Tom S. tells us:





"Having visited CERN myself, I can tell you that Room 404 is not on the fourth floor - the CERN office numbering system doesn't work like that - the first digit usually refers to the *building* number (ie. building 4), and the second two to the office number. But, strangely, there is no room "04" in building "4", the offices start at "410" and work upwards - don't ask me why. Sorry to disappoint you all, but there is no Room 404 in CERN - it simply doesn't exist, and certainly hasn't been preserved as "the place where the web began". In fact, there *is* a display about this, including a model of the first NeXT server, but the whole "Room 404" thing is just a myth."

According to the W3C, 404 Not Found is only supposed to be used in cases where the server cannot find the requested location and is unsure of its status. If a page has permanently been deleted, it is supposed to use 410: Gone to indicate a permanent change. But has anyone ever seen 410? It must be 404...



What are the other status codes?

You can find a detailed explanation here.



How can I use status codes?

If you have access to the logfiles for your website, take a look at them. You'll find that one of the fields is the HTTP status code. Look and see if anyone visiting your site got a 404. If you notice that there are consistent errors, look and see what the referring document is. Do you have a broken link on your site? Does another site link to you with a misspelled URL? These are things you can correct easily, which will help prevent 404 errors on your website. For more tips on 404 errors, visit 404 Pros.

Answer 12

Hey Guys,



They’re not as aggravating as the infamous “blue screen of death,” but 404 errors can still ruin a web surfer’s day. I don’t come across as many of ‘em as I used to, but I still thought it might be interesting to learn where the name came from.



I asked the community if there was some sort of significance to the number “404,” and got a slew of great responses. Most folks explained that the number 404 is a kind of code that indicates, to those who bother to learn the code, what exactly the problem might be.



In the case of the 404, the first “4″ indicates a client error. As a community member puts it, “the server is saying that you’ve done something wrong, such as misspell the URL or request a page which is no longer there.” The middle “0″ indicates a general syntax error. According to 404 Research Labs, a site used by several responders, this could indicate a spelling mistake. The last “4″ indicates the specific type of error “within the ‘40x’ group.” As one source puts it, the 404 status message is used “when the server does not wish to reveal exactly why the request has been refused, or when no other response is applicable.”



Long story short, there is a method to the madness. A responder who works in the IT field writes that there are “standards for everything, including error messages.” For example, while a 4xx error indicates a client error, a 5xx message indicates a server error, a 3xx message indicates a redirect, and so forth.



So, there you go, the mystery of the 404 has been solved thanks to you guys. Maybe now I won’t be as annoyed when I come across these errors. But probably not.



Thanks for reading,

Answer 13

Hi Ask Mike.



404 is an HTTP status code. Every time you visit a web page, your computer (the 'client') is requesting data from a server using HTTP, or Hypertext Transfer Protocol. Before the web page is even displayed in your browser, the web server has sent the HTTP header, which contains the status code. Not surprisingly, your browser has sent the server its own headers, which contain a lot more information about you than you think!

For a normal web page, the status is 200 OK. You don't see this because the server proceeds to send you the contents of the page. It's only when you encounter an error that you see the actual status code, such as 404 Not Found.



o where do status codes come from?

HTTP status codes were established by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) in 1992, as a part of the ( http://www.w3.org/Protocols/HTTP/HTTP2.html) They were defined by Tim Berners-Lee, the same person who single-handedly invented the web and the first web browser in 1990. We at the 404 Research Lab like to think of him as The Man Who Made All Of This Possible.





What do the numbers mean?

Let's dissect 404.



The first 4 indicates a client error. The server is saying that you've done something wrong, such as misspell the URL or request a page which is no longer there. Conversely, a 5xx error indicates a server-side problem. It also indicates an error which may be transient; if you try it again, it may work.



The middle 0 refers to a general syntax error. This could indicate a spelling mistake.



The last 4 just indicates the specific error in the group of 40x, which also includes 400: Bad Request, 401: Unauthorized, etc.



Room 404 asserts that 404 was named after a room at CERN (if you read about Tim Berners-Lee above, you'll know that that's where the web began) where the original web servers were located. However, Tom S. tells us:





"Having visited CERN myself, I can tell you that Room 404 is not on the fourth floor - the CERN office numbering system doesn't work like that - the first digit usually refers to the *building* number (ie. building 4), and the second two to the office number. But, strangely, there is no room "04" in building "4", the offices start at "410" and work upwards - don't ask me why. Sorry to disappoint you all, but there is no Room 404 in CERN - it simply doesn't exist, and certainly hasn't been preserved as "the place where the web began". In fact, there *is* a display about this, including a model of the first NeXT server, but the whole "Room 404" thing is just a myth."

According to the W3C, 404 Not Found is only supposed to be used in cases where the server cannot find the requested location and is unsure of its status. If a page has permanently been deleted, it is supposed to use 410: Gone to indicate a permanent change. But has anyone ever seen 410? It must be 404...



What are the other status codes?

You can find a detailed explanation here: http://www.w3.org/Protocols/rfc2616/rfc2616.html



Please note this is a quote. See source for details.



Source: http://www.plinko.net/404/history.asp

Answer 14

Hey, Mike

The 404 or Not Found error message is a HTTP standard response code indicating that the client was able to communicate with the server but either the server could not find what was requested, or it was configured not to fulfill the request and not reveal the reason why.

404 errors should not be confused with "server not found" or similar errors, in which a connection to the destination server cannot be made at all.

Answer 15

It's just an HTTP standard response code. The first 4 indicates that it's a client error and it is the 4th such error to be assigned a number, hence 404.

Answer 16

Basically 404 is a Not Found status code.

He is the example flow:

User inputs https://answersrip.com/question/index?qid=20080513093749AAWrUPa&show=7

Web Browser sends:

GET /question/index;_ylt=Ar.aVjzeYbLkcWD.s9IGVYDsy6IX;_ylv=3? HTTP/1.1

Host: answers.yahoo.com

To Resolved IP: 209.73.187.220 (from ISP's DNS) 209.73.187.220

-

Server responds with (if server/object/file/page found):

HTTP/1.1 200 OK

Date: Mon, 15 May 2008 20:16:34 GMT

Server: Server Type (Server OS Family Type) (Server OS Type)

Last-Modified: Thurs, 05 May 2008 08:15:55 GMT

Etag: "some1-num-2ber0003"

Accept-Ranges: bytes

Content-Length: 999

Connection: close

Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8



Some page text



-

Server responds (if server/object/file/page found):

HTTP/1.1 404 Object Not Found

-This is optional:

HTTP/1.1 404 Object Not Found

Date: Mon, 15 May 2008 20:16:35 GMT

Server: Server Type (Server OS Family Type) (Server OS Type)

Last-Modified: Thurs, 05 May 2008 08:15:56 GMT

Etag: "some1-num-2ber0013"

Accept-Ranges: bytes

Content-Length: 999

Connection: close

Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8



Custom server error page!



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

############################################

Hi Mike.

Just a little notice.

I know HTTP 1.1 brought relevance but when the inventor of HTTP and its status codes, Tim Berners-Lee of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).

The HyperText Transfer Protocol daemon (HTTPd) was the world's first web server and HTTP web server.

He did NOT say 40x is a group.

There are hidden requests behind the codes, FTP, SMTP, POP and more. Those codes were saved from them, along time ago it was all TELe communications NETwork and Disk Operating Systems. All through, usually back then it was through one port in small systems, thats why they used protocols, otherwise they might as well called them ports. Nowadays we use protocols on seperate ports and error codes were seperated to different protocols. Leaving a bunch of numbers that didn’t mean a thing to each other in sequence.

Just since 1.1 came out they added relevance to the codes.

Thanks.

By CybX Systems - ASP.NET MVP

Here is a good list of HTTP status codes of 1.1:

10.1 Informational 1xx

10.1.1 100 Continue

10.1.2 101 Switching Protocols

10.2 Successful 2xx

10.2.1 200 OK

10.2.2 201 Created

10.2.3 202 Accepted

10.2.4 203 Non-Authoritative Information

10.2.5 204 No Content

10.2.6 205 Reset Content

10.2.7 206 Partial Content

10.3 Redirection 3xx

10.3.1 300 Multiple Choices

10.3.2 301 Moved Permanently

10.3.3 302 Found

10.3.4 303 See Other

10.3.5 304 Not Modified

10.3.6 305 Use Proxy

10.3.7 306 (Unused)

10.3.8 307 Temporary Redirect

10.4 Client Error 4xx

10.4.1 400 Bad Request

10.4.2 401 Unauthorized

10.4.3 402 Payment Required (Future versions od HTTP)

10.4.4 403 Forbidden

10.4.5 404 Not Found

10.4.6 405 Method Not Allowed

10.4.7 406 Not Acceptable

10.4.8 407 Proxy Authentication Required (401 for proxies)

10.4.9 408 Request Timeout

10.4.10 409 Conflict

10.4.11 410 Gone

10.4.12 411 Length Required

10.4.13 412 Precondition Failed

10.4.14 413 Request Entity Too Large

10.4.15 414 Request-URI Too Long

10.4.16 415 Unsupported Media Type

10.4.17 416 Requested Range Not Satisfiable

10.4.18 417 Expectation Failed

10.5 Server Error 5xx

10.5.1 500 Internal Server Error

10.5.2 501 Not Implemented

10.5.3 502 Bad Gateway

10.5.4 503 Service Unavailable

10.5.5 504 Gateway Timeout

10.5.6 505 HTTP Version Not Supported (Old or New version of HTTP protocol negotiating required).

############################################

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Answer 17

Theres a whole host of errors, and each has their own number. 404 just happens to be the one most often seen by people, thats all.

Answer 18

HTTP status codes were established by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) in 1992, as a part of the HTTP 0.9 spec. They were defined by Tim Berners-Lee, the same person who single-handedly invented the web and the first web browser in 1990.

Answer 19

Berners-Lee (a Brit) at CRN it was the room number where he was working on the error codes.... He also discovered the Web....

Answer 20

what da hell is 404 ?

Answer 21

they were the 404th error in the beginning.

Answer 22

thats the error number in a big book of internet errors

Answer 23

i've been wondering the same thing...

does this help? :$



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTTP_404

Answer 24

Because they tried 403 other real names, and none was right.