Error documents

[mavreela]

Sorry if this is the wrong forum, I spent ages trying to work out which one would be a best fit.

When my site generates a document not found message it sends the following page...

Not Found
The requested URL /whatever was not found on this server.




Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.

I have nothing defined in the control panel, and I have no .htaccess file so why is it looking for, and not finding, an error document elsewhere?

It just looks messy is all. Eventually I will create a custom error, but for now I am happy with the apache default.

I tried putting ErrorDocument 404 default in an .htaccess file but this only gives me an error 500 instead.

My questions are - is it just me, and why is it happening?

Thanks.

[jason]

I think it has to do with the way CPanel is set up. I've seen these kinds of error messages on other CP hosts, not just here at JPC. I think that CP probably has Apache set up to look wherever it stores what you enter into the "Custom Error Message" section. If you haven't put anything there (or redefined the path within .htaccess) then you get the message you're seeing.

Personally I use custom error pages that keep the look of my site and provide my visitors with links and relavant information about the error, defined in .htaccess. This is, IMHO, the most user-friendly way to do it. As a short-term solution, though, if the default errors really bug you, just throw some simple HTML into the CP form to mimic a "real" Apache error and voila!

--Jason

[mavreela]

At least it isn't just me then, I kind of guessed at your explanation as it does make sense.

Can't believe I didn't think of spoof the custom error page though, thanks for that.