Benchmarking Web Sites Workshop For Museum New Media Spring School - 404 Page Analysis of Selected Web Sites

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The following table gives a summary of the 404 errors pages of Web sites for participants on the "Leicester Spring School In New Media" which was held at University of Leicester on 20^th April 2005.

A summary of the column headings is given below.

Web Site: Name of organisation and link to Web site
Tailored 404 Page?: Y if Web site appear to have a tailored 404 page, and does not use the server default
Description: Brief comments on the 404 page
Rating *-****: * - simple 404 page with little, if any branding
** - 404 page with some elements of branding, navigational bars, help information, etc.
*** - sophisticated 404 page which is fully branded and contains navigational bars, help information, etc.
**** - sophisticated 404 page with additional functionality, such as personalisation.
Try It: View the project 404 page

The ratings have an element of subjectivity. To help in interpreting their meaning additional information is given below.

**Table : Explanation Of Ratings**
Rating	Description	Example
-	Server default message.
*	May mention name of the Web site but has little or no branding, navigational bars or help information.
**	Has some elements of branding, navigational bars or help information, but not all.
***	Has all elements of branding, navigational bars and help information.
****	Has all elements of branding, navigational bars and help information. In addition provides additional functionality, such as personalised information, information on referrer field, etc.

**Table 1: 404 Survey Of Web Sites**
	Organisation	Tailored 404 Page?	Description	Rating -***	Try It
1	Natural History Museum	Y	Branded page, search box and useful links (but no display of incorrect URL)	***	Check
2	National Museum of Science and Industry	N	Server error message		Check
3	The National Museum of Photography, Film & Television	N	Server error message		Check
4	National Museums and Galleries of Wales	Y	Branded page, search box and useful links (but no display of incorrect URL)	***	Check
5	Cotswold Motoring Museum	N	Server default		Check
6	Bolton Museum, Art Gallery & Aquarium	N	Server default		Check
7	Museum of Science And Industry In Manchester	Y	Branded page, search box and navigational bar (but no display of incorrect URL)	**	Check
8	24 Hour Museum	N	Server default		Check
9	MWR	Y	Branded page, search box and navigational bar (but no display of incorrect URL)	**	Check
10	Arts and Technology Partnership	N	Server default		Check
11	Department of Museum Studies, University of Leicester	Y	Branded page, search box and navigational bar (but no display of incorrect URL)	***	Check
12	Department of Information and Communication Technologies, Open University	Y	Message displayed with email address, but no branding, navigational bars and limited help.	*	Check
13	elearning group for museums and galleries, libraries and archives	N	Server default		Check

The information in the table was collected on 15^th April 2005.

Notes

Please note the following:

The online version of this page allows the latest findings to be obtained.

Summary

A summary of the findings is given below.

**Table 2: Summary**
Tailored 404 Page	6	46%
Default 404 Page	7	54%

- Rating	7	54%
* Rating	1	7%
** Rating	2	15%
*** Rating	3	23%
**** Rating	0	0%