While recently doing some research I came across NotFound.Org. A project funded by the European Union and created in collaboration with a number of missing person charities. The project’s purpose is to encourage website owners to make better use of their Error 404 pages by showing relevant missing person notices to the location of the visitor on these error pages. What a fantastic use of error 404 pages!
Error 404
For those unfamiliar with the term, an Error 404 page is the page that you get presented when the page you are trying to access does not exist. These usually just contain a search box and a message such as ‘Page not found. A 404 page is not where a website owner wants you to land, but if you do, they want you to be able to use it to find what you were originally looking for on their website.
Missing Person Notices
NotFound.Org, using the visitor’s IP locations, displays notices for missing persons within their country. This can be below your standard ‘Page Not Found’ notice or instead of. Here is an example from Onion Search Engine who has added NotFound.Org notices to their platform.
Click here for a live example.
Add Missing Person Notices To Your 404 Pages
NotFound.org powers the Missing Person Notices and has been created in collaboration with Missing People, Missing Children Europe, Amazon Web Services, and FamousGrey. It is funded by the European Union.
If you have a website it is quick and easy to add Missing Person Notices to your error 404 pages. Additionally, who knows, you could end up saving a life or reconnecting a family.