How do I create a 404 page manually without plugin

  • Good day experts,

    Please I need help with creating a default 404 error page that would automatically show up whenever a page is dead.

    I want this page to have embedded in it;
    1. Greetings message to apologize to visitors
    2. A sitemap embedded with links to top pages of the site
    3. Link to TOP POSTS
    4. Search bar for users to navigate back to the article
    5. Link to social media profiles
    6. Homepage link

    Kindly help me with the proper help to render this change without having to use PLUGIN or mess with core files that might cause issues.

    Thanks a lot.

    The page I need help with: [log in to see the link]

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)

  • The 404 page is typically the responsibility of the theme. If you add a 404.php template to the theme it will be used for the 404 page.

    To avoid losing changes if your theme updates you can create a Child Theme and put your custom 404 template there.

    Thread Starter Olawale Daniel

    (@coolcash4live)

    Thanks @jakept for your response. But this is not an immediate solution to this right?

    I think I’d have to learn coding and theme development to solve that. However, I learn’t that I can do this by hardcoding it into the functions.php file or sort.

    What do you think about it?

    If you edit functions.php you’re still coding, so I don’t see how that addresses your problem. You shouldn’t edit your theme’s functions file anyway, because of the same issues regarding updates I mentioned. You would still need to create a child theme, so if you’re doing that just use the 404 template.

    But to cut right to it: WordPress does not have a feature for editing the 404 page. At all. So if you absolutely don’t want to use a plugin you will have to code it yourself.

    If you do not know how to code, then that’s what plugins are for and you should reconsider not wanting to use one, because it’s the only way you’ll get what you want.

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)
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