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11 years ago, I rebuilt @Google’s error page. A short story.Permalink On twitter.com
♻️ 55 Retweets ❤️ 405 Favorites Mood -2 🙁
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You may not know the original error page. It looked like this (via @AGConsult):Permalink On twitter.com
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The idea back in 2010/2011 was to make the error page more useful. On the old Webmaster Team (@GoogleWebStudio), we had many ideas. Alas, running into one limitation after the other, we had to change course. We opted for a light refresh, and doing a larger update, well, later.On twitter.com
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The copy has been on me. I wanted the “!!1,” and I wanted to playfully call out our inability to provide more error context and options (“that’s all we know”). I received a few internal bug reports 😬 Given the limitations, I still find it all googley: meiert.com/en/blog/googliness/Permalink On twitter.com
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The code has been edited since 2011, but—it’s still valid HTML. (Basic professional frontend development.) Like the copy, the design (by @bogusred) hasn’t changed. My former manager and I have a bet if this page will last longer than Google’s first error page. Let’s see 😅Permalink On twitter.com
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For everyone interested, here’s the little more detailed version of the story: meiert.com/en/blog/the-google-error-page/Permalink On twitter.com