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Design a custom 404 page

A custom 404 turns a dead end into a helpful page (search box, popular links, a friendly message). With the Theme Builder you design it visually and assign it to the 404 condition, no template file editing.

Steps​

  1. Install Theme Builder (Unyson+ → Extensions → Download), then open the Theme Builder menu.
  2. Body Templates → Add New. Build your 404 layout with the page builder, a heading ("Page not found"), a Site Search element, a button back home, and whatever else helps. Publish.
  3. Theme Builder → Add Template. Set its Body slot to your new body template; leave Header/Footer as Inherit so your normal chrome stays.
  4. Set Used On with the conditional tag 404 page (is_404). Save.

Now any missing URL renders your custom body inside your normal header and footer.

Same pattern for other special pages

The same approach builds custom search results, author, and archive pages, just change the Used On condition (is_search, author archive, a post-type archive, …). See Theme Builder → conditional assignment.

See also​