A weird mistake one of my clients is making: If an invalid/inaccessible URL...
A weird mistake one of my clients is making:
If an invalid/inaccessible URL is requested, they redirect to /404.
Don’t do this. If an invalid URL is requested, the URL shouldn’t change.
Solution: Use a wildcard route to display a 404 page on all invalid routes.
Why this matters:
1. If the URL changes to /404 after I request it, it's confusing. That's not the URL I requested.
2. It's semantically incorrect. A 404 page shouldn't have a dedicated URL.
3. If I want to report a URL that is 404'ing, I can't see the URL in the bar anymore.