Many times in your life you have probably seen these petrifying 404 error pages which meant nothing but that you’ve lost your way surfing the web in your pursuance of certain objectives. The 404 error declares that the user’s request was able to communicate with the server, but the server couldn’t find what was requested. And that is probably the only useful information you would find reaching the “zero between fours” dead-end default pages.

TemplateMonster.com shares the point of view that it’s not always supposed to be that way. The 404 error pages must be your light out of the trouble but surely not a common state of “welcome, you’re in Deadlock”. 404 pages should contain helpful information for example Main Page or Site Map links or what’s better - widgets that endeavor to find the correct web page the user required. The visual representation of 404 pages is a question of substantial importance. It’s essential that when someone is looking for something for relatively long period of time without any success he gets rather annoyed with 404s but smart appealing visual elements might cheer him up.

Here are some more useful advices for you to think over your four-Oh!-fours:

• Set up your navigation system.

  As it was mentioned above, you should provide alternatives for navigating user’s way out of a 404 error page. These could be widgets that find the correct web page, links to your home page, site map, help info, search tabs, assumption lists(e.g. “Perhaps you’ve meant”, “Maybe you would like to …” ), etc.

• The Medium is the Message.

  Do not forget that even through 404 error page you are communicating with your visitors. Think over the message you would display.

1. Be careful! Linguistic tips.

   Displaying the list of probable errors never put misspelling error or any other assumptions, accusing the user of being sloppy or inattentive, first. Leave them to end your list and better present them in a rather smooth way.

2. Brevi manu! (latin for ‘Brevity is the soul of wit’ ).

   Stay informative and at the same time do not provide too much information. Give the users appropriate amount of suggestions to help them find their way out.

• Be user-friendly.

  Spread some friendly mood on your ‘route 404′. Cross out sever “Error 404. Page Not Found” and change it for more amicable “Ooops!…” or “Sorry…” or else.

• Creativity is the key.

  Think different! Find unconventional ideas to present your 404 error page. Thus you’ll make your visitors remember your page.

In case you’ve got really excited with this topic we recommend you to visit SmashingMagazine.com 404 error pages review (as well as part I of their best 404 pages review and part II which also rocks). Plus there’s a similar review of 60 best 404 error pages made by hongkiat.com - all these guys have done a great job of collecting these pages and popularising the “404 Error pages” topic. Here are some excellent examples of creative 404 error pages:

* * *

Read the rest of this entry »

Ok, so you have purchased one of our Flash CMS templates (or maybe you’re just planning to do so) and you are probably afraid of how difficult it seems to install the template. Well, here we are to ruin this illusion and to show you how easy it is to install it all. Please read the instructions below and you’ll see that you can do it even if you’re not a Flash professional.

* * *

I. Delivery E-mail: Flash Moto account

After you have purchased our Flash Moto template you will receive an email under “Flash Moto
Accounts” telling you as follows (example):

Dear Customer,

II. Account Registration

You should register your product in order to use it on ONE server and for ONE domain name. To do
this, please go to your Flash Moto account at http://account.flashmoto.com and enter your access details provided over the email (example):

E-mail: customer@gmail.com

Password: temp123

III. Account Activation

1. Using this form please fill in your hosting information i.e. your website IP and a website
domain name. To edit your information, please use the “Edit” function as on the preview
below:

Read the rest of this entry »

There was some ambiguity concerning FlashMoto CMS preorder purchase and FlashMoto CMS in general (judging from the comments on FlashMoto blog entry). So, we and FlashMoto team decided to clarify some points to sound more intelligible to our customers.

What is important to know is that FlashMoto CMS standalone version does not include any design at all. It is oriented towards web developers who will attach the design on their own, certainly if they have all necessary Flash skills. And by the way, it could be whatever design or Flash template they like, not even necessarily the one from Template Monster.

Another thing to mention is that FlashMoto CMS standalone version currently works with PC platform. At present there are some complications with the Mac, but FlashMoto team is about to settle them up.

If someone cares about the costs, the price for FlashMoto license for one website (domain) will be $199, however in case you use the preorder purchase option you may buy it for $159 (you save $40). So, that is the license for one site (domain) that you buy by preorder.

For Flash CMS Templates, Template Monster declared the sale prices (about $250) that are based on the cost of the license on FlashMoto ($199) for one domain plus the price for the design and its integration. So the design and its integration costs are in fact about $50.

Considering the stated items, for those who are not familiar with Flash we do not recommend buying FlashMoto CMS. It’s meant for professional developers only. We suggest that end users who are not very good with Flash purchase our Flash CMS Templates that are optimized for easier installation and configuration.

The last, but not the least - the release date of FlashMoto CMS standalone version is the 4th of November. That’s the final date and the launch is not to be rescheduled.

Hopefully, you’ll find this information helpful!

When witches go riding,
and black cats are seen,
the moon laughs and whispers,
’tis near Halloween.

With these plain rhymed lines we announce the Halloween season 2009 to be officially started, the countdown is on and now more than ever our mission is to help you enjoy Halloween as much as we do. So, welcome to an ideal entranceway into a Halloween gifts yard!

For this holiday we got some pumpkin ideas to make you scream with delight! Template Monster is coming from the underworld to present you 20% discount for terrific Halloween Templates. These scary desserts will be given to you during fifteen days from October 15th to the 1st of November 2009. And make sure, there’s no trick to these Halloween treats – so get terrific Halloween Templates and it’ll be all fright on the night!

By the way, you may also knock on Template Monster web doors to gather sweet freebies for the Halloween festival! We’re cooking the perfect design product pudding for FREE sharing. This creepy design is expected to grow out of the ground within the same period mentioned.

So, Happy Halloween and Happy Haunts for Deadly Good Template Designs!

And the last thing for you, get amused with our Halloween joke:
Q. What’s Monster’s favorite dessert? A. I-Scream Templates!!

Guys, it calls for your attention – FlashMoto starts the preorder off-load of the CMS standalone version. Intended release date is the 4th of November 2009.

What to mention is that now purchasing you can save as much as $40 (regular price for FlashMoto CMS is $199). So, you are currently free to pick the CMS to work with any Flash website for as low as $159.

The reason for such pleasant agitation is quite simple. After successful launch of Flash CMS Templates more and more people want to apply CMS over and above the templates from TemplateMonster.com, namely for their individual projects. Even previously we and the guys from FlashMoto received such kind of requests. That considering, a long-awaited release of FlashMoto CMS was hastened, for your infinite delight!

Now you are able to make the most out of it, enjoying sizable discount. Get the Standalone version of premium quality Flash Content Management System making preorder purchase at FlashMoto.com to eventually receive anticipated CMS on the day it’ll be released.

Make time out to exploit the situation and save your money!