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If a user tries to access a page number that doesn't exist when viewing the results on a table, what should happen?

I'm referring to change the page in the url, example: www.website.com/products?page=100

Imagine I only have 99 pages of results in the table.

What would be the better approach for you?

  • Redirect to the first page: Many sites automatically redirect the user back to the first page if they enter a non-existent page number.
  • Show an error message: Another approach is to display an error message stating the page is out of range.
  • Something else...?
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    How did they access the page number that did not exist? We should think about a solution that PREVENTS user from creating the mistake in the first place – that would be a better solution than fixing the error state.
    – Kish
    Commented Sep 19 at 10:11
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    You've tagged this with 'tables' so are you referring to someone using the table 'skip to page...' text field that then updates the table to that set of results, or do you mean the page as a whole (such as an ecommerce catalog with many pages of items)?
    – JonW ♦
    Commented Sep 19 at 10:12
  • I'm referring to change the page in the url, like this: www.website.com/products?page=100 Imagine I only have 99 pages of results in the table. If the user changes the url to page 100, what would be the best solution?
    – designlover
    Commented Sep 19 at 11:09
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    The one that is clever enough to start adapting the URL to skip to different pages, is likely also going to understand a good old "404 page not found". Unless you have a good reason to provide a fix I would approach this as an edge case and not use too much development time on it. Having said that: a solid 404 error page that allows an instant path back to the previous page is always good to have and provides a generic way out for more cases than just this one.
    – GWv
    Commented Sep 19 at 14:39
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    Agree with @GWv here - users playing around with URLs encounter 404 errors when they enter a URL that does not exist. (Ideally, you shouldn't show querystring data in URLs to begin with.) But if your table is updating its data so rapidly that page 100 existed at the beginning of the interaction and now there are only 99 pages, the user can just be taken to a repeat of page 99 when they try to click the arrow to get to 100.
    – Izquierdo
    Commented Sep 19 at 15:59

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Most sites use error pages that have a fallback button to return the user to a certain page in the site, it could take the user to the last page or to home.

Also, some cloud services when you have a static site have the option to show the error message and that'll help you if the user modify the URL to peek into your IA.

404 error page

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