Manage Your Status Pages
We’ve all been there. We’re happily surfing the internet, clicking on various links, taking us further and further down our new found rabbit tail for the day. And then it happens: you click a link and you reach the dreaded 404 error page (i.e. the end of the rabbit trail).
Most 404 pages are super unhelpful and don’t provide you with any next steps. But what if you could make a 404 page not only more friendly, but also provide people who land on one with a couple of next steps that might help them get back on the rabbit trail?
With Nucleus, you can customize all types of your status pages, 404’s included. No one likes landing on a 404 page, but should it happen on your church’s website, you can provide the best experience when landing on one.
In this guide, we'll cover the following topics. Click on any one to jump ahead.
Note: While you can manage your Sitemap in your Site Settings, we explore this in our guide on how to Create Your Website Navigation Menu(s).
3 Types Of Status Pages
While visiting your website, there are 3 potential status pages that people might encounter:
- Unavailable (404) - At its core, this means that the URL you’re trying to access is dead or doesn’t exist. This could be because there used to be a page at that URL, but that page has been taken down or the page’s slug/permalink has changed and no redirect to the new URL exists. This could also be because you have the URL to a page that does exist, but has yet to be published. Either way, the page is currently unavailable to access. (Or it could be as simple as someone typing in the URL wrong.)
- Sign In Required (401) - While creating pages on Nucleus Web, you can set them to be private. In doing so, you lock the page to only be accessible by certain people. To know whether someone has authorized access, they must sign in. Based on the profile of the person logged in, Nucleus will then either grant them access to view the page, or they will then be presented with the Unauthorized (403) status page.
- Unauthorized (403) - As described above, if you land on a private page, you must sign in. After signing in though, if you do not have the permission to view that page (based on the profile you signed in with), Nucleus will bar you from accessing the page and you will see the Unauthorized (403) status page.
So that’s what each type of status page is for. Now let’s explore how to edit and customize each one.
Customize Your Status Pages
By default, Nucleus has standardized messaging for all three of these status pages, along with preset actions for people to take. But if you want to make sure that the wording on each type of status page reflects the type of verbiage and lingo throughout the rest of your website (and that the actions available to take on each page make sense), it’s good to review each one and make any changes necessary.
To view and manage your website’s status pages, click on Manage and then on Site Settings. Then select Status Pages. (Click here for a quick link.)
As discussed above, there are 3 types of status pages: Unavailable (404), Sign In Required (401) and Unauthorized (403).
To see what the current messaging is and what actions are set for each status page, click the Customize button.
Here, you can edit the Headline and Body Text for the status page. You’re more than welcome to leave the standard, default text as is, or adjust it as you need.
Below this, you’ll see two actions you can set, one with a primary button and one with a secondary button style.
Depending on which status page you’re editing, the options for each button may differ (e.g. The Primary Button for the 401 page will always be to Sign In), but the process is the same. Simply select an option for where you want people to go when they click the button, and edit the text for each button.
Once you’re happy with your changes, click the Save Changes button.
Then, click on Back to all to view and customize the other status pages.
A Refresher On Web Privacy Controls
Because 401 and 403 pages are based on whether someone is signed in or not, and then whether or not that person’s profile has the qualifications to view the page they’re trying to access, it’s a good time to quickly review Nucleus Web privacy controls.
In the context of status pages, these privacy controls can be broken down into two main components:
- The privacy controls of a particular page.
- The Connection Type set on a person’s profile.
When creating a page, you can set a page to be public, hidden, or private. When you set a page to be private, you then have the option to choose which Connection Types are allowed to access that page.
Once published, when anyone tries to access that page, if they are not yet already signed in, they will be greeted with the 401 Sign In status page.
After being signed in, Nucleus will check to see if they have the correct Connection Type associated with their profile. If they do, they will be allowed to view that page. If not, they will then see the 403 Unauthorized page.
We have an entire guide to Understand Nucleus Web Privacy Options that dives deeper into Connection Types, people records and profiles, and the other page privacy options. If you’re unsure of how to set a Connection Type on a profile, that’s a great place to start.
What Next?
Managing your site’s settings might not be the most exciting part of building your website, but it’s certainly important to make sure you review all of them to make sure that people have the best experience while visiting your website. Check out some of the following guides to check on some other site settings: