In the fast paced world of the Web, it's pretty much a given that users will encounter 404 (page not found) errors. And if you're moving your website to a new domain or doing a major rebuild, the chances of that happening increase exponentially. Fortunately, there are many tools available to minimize the chances of seeing 404 errors without being forced to modify .htaccess files or engage in regex writing. One in particular is Errorlytics from AccessionMedia which caught my eye this morning and is definitely worthy of note.
Users create an account and a website profile with the online tool, and install a client-side script or plugin on their server. The scripts (which are available for Drupal, Wordpress, Java, Ruby and PHP platforms) then send information on a site's 404 (page not found) errors back to the Errorlytics server for analysis. Users can log into the system interface at anytime to see what errors have occurred and set up "rules" as to where the visitor should be redirected if they attempt to access a non-existent page. Once these rules are established, Errorlytics continues to apply the rules as long as they exist. Users of the system can even subscribe to a personal Errorlytics RSS feed or a nightly email to receive updates when "page not found" errors occur.
