Custom Error Pages

Description

WordPress offers inbuilt support for custom 404 pages on all themes. But what about custom pages for other common errors like 401 and 403? You end up seeing a bland error page of the Web Server.

With this plugin you can easily create custom 401 and 403 error pages with any theme without writing a single line of code!!! And the best part is that you set it and forget it. Yes, you don’t have to do any changes even if you change themes. The heading and text you want on 401 and 403 error pages are displayed on the currently active theme.

Further Reading

• Create WordPress 401 and 403 error pages WITHOUT using this plugin
• The Custom Error Pages Plugin official homepage.

Screenshots

Installation

1. Install and activate the custom error pages plugin.
2. From the wp-admin go to Settings > Custom Error Pages, fill in the heading and content boxes, save the changes and preview it.
3. Configure your web server to use a custom error page.

Apache users edit your .htaccess file and add the following lines.

ErrorDocument 403 /index.php?status=403
ErrorDocument 401 /index.php?status=401

Nginx users edit your nginx.conf file and add the following lines.

error_page  403 = /index.php?status=403
error_page  401 = /index.php?status=401

Try accessing a file or directory which is forbidden like

https://www.example.com/.htaccess

https://www.example.com/wp-includes/

Did you see a custom 403 page in all the glory of your theme?

FAQ

Should I do anything if I change themes?

No not at all. You just install the plugin set it and forget it. The plugin isn’t theme bound so it’ll work even after switching themes.

I noticed define( ‘DONOTCACHEPAGE’, TRUE ); in the plugin code what is it for?

This tells caching plugins like W3 Total Cache and WP Super Cache not to cache the 401 and 403 error pages. This does NOT affect the cacheability any other pages of your site.

Does this plugin automatically edit the .htaccess or nginx.conf file?

No it doesn’t. You have to manually edit it and add the necessary configuration specified in the plugin’s option page.

Reviews

Excellent

Eli May 26, 2023

Works exactly as described, letting you customize other default error messages besides just the 404 like most other plugins on this category do.

It just works

OkorieWare January 14, 2020

Straight forward setup. I especially like that it adapts to the current theme.

Excellent!!

senlivelife May 5, 2019

Actualy I was little scared of editing .htaccess. But I added it to bottom on .htaccess and it worked well. Excellent pugin! Thank you:)

Easy, it works

jorgensenmattd April 18, 2018

Easy way to create custom 403s.

Just great

vodonosac November 29, 2017

This plugin is simple to setup and use, all I did after activation was that I changed error message text and that was it! It saved me time on creating my own error pages on a simple wp site! Great work!

Very easy to setup

firestrife September 3, 2017 1 reply

Just an feature request, can you add option to hide title? Because I prefer to use page builder plugin for better design.

Contributors & Developers

Changelog

1.2

• Removed deprecated screen_icon() function
• Compatibility check with WordPress 6.2

1.1

• Fixed a bug that displayed the thumbnail of Post ID 1
• Reduced repetitive code with inheritance
• Compatibility check with WordPress 3.8

1.0

• Initial version