Make a list of valid site maintenance pages

Each Web site must perform maintenance at a point in time or in any other case. Whether it's just a partial upgrade of the site or some reason for the site, this is an unavoidable fact for site owners. Also, many times, maintenance requires your site to be disconnected for at least a few minutes.

So what do you do when your site is going to be shut down for maintenance? You certainly don't want users to see 404 pages or other error pages, and you'd like to encourage them to visit your site quickly instead of "later", right? If this is the case, you will need to create a custom maintenance page. Below we prepare a list of effective maintenance pages that will help keep your viewers, whether they are new visitors or a return visitor.

1. Keep your maintenance page simple and easy to use

The whole function of the page is to let users know that your site is still running and that maintenance is only temporary . There is no need to do anything beyond this. Make sure you understand what this page is all about and give visitors the information they are interested in.

Another useful feature for simple maintenance pages is the ability to display your maintenance information in multiple languages. The website is internationalized, and although many of your viewers may be able to speak some English, it is helpful to provide multiple languages. Use online translation tools with caution, because many times they are inaccurate. The last thing you want to do with your maintenance page may be to further confuse people--or worse--to disgust them.

Delicious uses a simple message ( source ...).

The Twitter Maintenance page provides direct, minimal information and maintains a concise design that is still attractive and friendly to users.

Google's AdSense page provides concise maintenance information in a variety of languages.

And sometimes, Google Adsense only use clear language to explain what happened and when the page will be back online. Note that Google also eliminates users ' concerns: earnings will be tracked as usual, and advertising targets will not be affected during downtime.

The maintenance interface from the Apple Store captures the main points.

MobileMe uses a visually appealing, multilingual maintenance screen.

2. Recognize that this is an inconvenience to your users

When your site is down, it will be inconvenient for your usual users. This is a simple fact. But do not allow users who feel inconvenient to become alienated users. Simply admitting that your site's downtime is a pain for your users can often satisfy them. Apologize for downtime and provide them with useful information to make them feel that you are aware of what this means for them.

Last.fm a striking apology on the right side of their maintenance page.

Twitter offers a rather relaxing approach, but it still apologizes because users may not be able to tolerate downtime.

3. Don't worry about using humor

There's no need to take it seriously because your site is lost. Using some small humor may make your maintenance page interesting and help improve your site's impressions in the eyes of visitors who are inconvenienced by downtime. Imagine that the little angel associated with your site's content could be portrayed in a humorous manner. Whether it's a little action on your logo or mascot, or even something that doesn't have anything to do with your site, there's definitely an angel who can make your maintenance page interesting.

Etsy shows that Halm is handling the current technical issue. The idea Etsy also conveys what is happening and the expected recovery time.

SoundCloud promised to recover quickly and use a pun to make the maintenance page look smart. ( source ...).

Ning uses a lovely illustrator and declares that experienced technicians (Pictures) are working hard to keep Ning online. ( source ...).

Reddit 's Maintenance page uses more information, reddits may not stop using Lisp ...

YouTube seems to be busy rolling out new combinations and recipes. ( source ...)

Mozilla: In Repair ... ( source ...).

Revver ( source ...).

The maintenance page for Flickr doesn't seem to be informative, but it's interesting. Flickr is enjoying a massage.

Flashden declares a 10-second outage and provides a cartoon character that maintains its own to win a visitor's smile.

Bloglines used a picture of a plumber to explain when the site was down.

apartmentguide.com: There is an example of using maintenance workers on the maintenance page.

4. Design the same appearance for the maintenance page

You want your visitors to immediately realize that they are coming to the right place, even if your site looks a lot different from what you always look like. If your maintenance page is not similar to your normal site, many visitors will feel that they have gone to the wrong URL and may not be paying attention to what is being said on your page.

Make sure your maintenance page contains your logo and maintains the same color as your site. Even with these two things, visitors can feel relieved when they encounter an unexpected page.

The Grooveshark retains their head and basic colours intact.

StumbleUpon also retains their heads and logos, and even illustrations use their signature colours.

naturalinstinct uses the same color scheme and provides the user with an alternative contact option.

5. Tell the visitor when your site can be restored

The maintenance time may vary considerably. Sometimes a Web site can only go down for a few minutes, or it could be one or two hours or longer. Let the user know when you expect the site to resume and run. So they will know when they can come back to visit. A public maintenance page can encourage users to return a visit in a few hours or even a few days to see if the site is restored. Some things like you will be back in 5 minutes will encourage them to do so.

The IStockPhoto Maintenance page informs visitors about the estimated time that the site may return to normal.

Bloggers Use a simple page that contains the time the site expects to recover.

Linkedin lets users know what's right for the site to be online ( source ...).

StudiVZ advises users to have a cup of tea first (wait), and then tells visitors that the site will be online at 8 o'clock. ( source ...).

6. Provide the recommended content

When your site is down, save some articles on the site as static pages, a way to provide some content for users to read while performing maintenance. Some other sites even recommend content on other sites, and usually they think that their browsers might be more interested in the content. Providing them with something else to do when your visitors are waiting for your site to recover is a great way to show them your concern and to realize how inconvenient it is for them (article II above).

The picture of librarything downtime suggests reading some books ( source ...) at downtime.

Digg provides a list of the content of other sites that they think users will be more interested in.

Github provides users with an interesting YouTube video at the time of downtime.

Mixx to provide users with some of their most popular Mixx stories

Sears had to be closed in black Friday to enhance the site. This maintenance page provides users with more navigation options-such as Lands ' End, Parts Direct and Sears Credit ( Source ...).

7. Invite your visitors to return to the site at the time of return

Because your users do visit your service while they are down, they will certainly use your service. So remind them to be effective when the site is restored. Obviously, when the site is restored, you may not want to tell all the users of the service. So it's a good idea to have the users in need get a notification when the Web site is restored. Notification letters can be sent via e-mail, SMS or Twitter.

soindustry allows users to obtain site recovery notifications by submitting their email addresses.

8. Inform your visitors of the current maintenance progress

Of course, a lot of unexpected things happen in maintenance, so it's a good idea to let your users know about the progress. A timely feedback is very important to let users know everything is good and on the other hand some people are solving this problem, we need more patience ... Clouds

Habbo, you can meet a friend or friends of the virtual world, in its maintenance page provides a lovely illustrator, and inform the user of the current maintenance progress.

37signals also allows the user to follow up on the maintenance status. ( source ...).

About the original author

Cameron Chapman is a six-year experience website and graphic designer, and she also writes some blogs, including her own blog Cameron Chapman on writing.