Create a Custom vBulletin "404 Page Not Found" Page, and direct vBSEO to use it.

@Arnold :

It works for me. Sample non-existent page i visited :

Code:

http://www.waltdisneyboards.com/blah-blah-blah.html

Wow, I guess it was one of those 'cache' things, huh?

Thanks for your help Keith and thanks for 'showing me the light' Shadab!

Originally Posted by ArnyVee

Wow, I guess it was one of those 'cache' things, huh?
Thanks for your help Keith and thanks for 'showing me the light' Shadab!

You're welcome.

Wonderful article, but of course I've run into an issue ! :(

Code:

Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/www/www.webmastertalk.co.uk/web/404.php:1) in /home/www/www.webmastertalk.co.uk/web/404.php on line 2

Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/www/www.webmastertalk.co.uk/web/404.php:1) in /home/www/www.webmastertalk.co.uk/web/404.php on line 3

The 404 page itself then displays, but I really need to get rid of the errors

It looks like you have extra line break at the top of 404.php file. Make sure that topmost line starts with "<?php".

Originally Posted by Oleg Ignatiuk

It looks like you have extra line break at the top of 404.php file. Make sure that topmost line starts with "<?php".

Oleg - you are my saviour!


Stupid annoying error and I feel quite embarassed about it, but it's all now resolved - thank you!

Michele

I don't know what I am doing wrong....

my page is up: http://gridironfans.com/forums/404.php

But if you go to the search link (which is incorrect) you go to the default webhost 404 page: http://gridironfans.com/search.php

When I go to this fake page I get the default 404: http://gridironfans.com/blah-blah-blah.hmtl

But when I go here: http://gridironfans.com/forums/blah-blah-blah.hmtl

I get this:

PHP Code:

Warning:  include(/home/sblueman/public_html/forums/404.php ) [function.include]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /home/sblueman/public_html/forums/vbseo.php on line 1446

Warning:  include() [function.include]: Failed opening '/home/sblueman/public_html/forums/404.php ' for inclusion (include_path='.:/usr/lib/php:/usr/local/lib/php') in /home/sblueman/public_html/forums/vbseo.php on line 1446 


since you are in /forums, this 404 will only work in your forums directory, not root.
seeing the hostgator error is valid for a root-level error.
(and this is another reason why i always suggest installing vb/ vbseo in root)


as for your custom 404 in the forums directory, your path is wrong.

/home/sblueman/public_html/forums/404.php

doesn't exist. you can probably find your true path from the php info script in the vb acp.

Should I un-install and re-install vbSEO in the root directory then?

Also....I have the 404.php file in my forums directory....and when I go to PHP info in my vb ACP the document root is /home/sblueman/public_html .....now is that the correct value?

That won't do you any good... as your vb is not in root. vbseo needs to be where vb is.
you would need to move your entire forum down a directory, set up a custom forum homepage (ie, forums.php instead of index.php) so that vba will still work

as for your path, it might be something weird on your host. i'd suggest contact them for the true path, as what is shown obviously isn't working.

You could consider adding some code from Google that helps users who misspelled the url

Official Google Webmaster Central Blog: Make your 404 pages more useful

For those who had been looking for how to get 404.php working throughout their sites and have vb in forums/ directory

I just got it working !

1. As described in first post, create the template.
2. For 404.php, copy this code and upload/save in site root i.e. under "public_html"

Code:

<?php
header("HTTP/1.0 404 Not Found");
header("Status: 404 Not Found");
$_GET['do']='page';
$_REQUEST['do']='page';
$_GET['template']='404';
$_REQUEST['template']='404';
define('VBSEO_PREPROCESSED', 1);
chdir('/usr/home/username/public_html/forums/');
include '/usr/home/username/public_html/forums/misc.php';
?>

We are using chdir() with an absolute path (this solves the problem that was faced with just chdir('forums'))

3. In the .htaccess of the site root i.e. .htaccess located under "public_html", put this in the end of file:-

Code:

ErrorDocument 404 /404.php

4. Atlast, in vBSEO CP, "File Not Found" requests handling?, enter the absolute path to 404.php

Thats it, hope it helps !

Thank you! Worked like a charm.

Originally Posted by jw00dy

Thank you! Worked like a charm.

ah I am glad you got it working

Awesome...