---
permalink: claude-memory/project-arc-404-page-design-pending
superseded_by: project-arc-open-work-register.md
superseded_on: 2026-08-17
---
> **SUPERSEDED 2026-08-17.** Register E3 → `[DONE—retire]` **[verified 2026-06-11]** — this file predates §VII.h; content/404.md and the built 404 conform exactly.
>
> Current record: **project-arc-open-work-register.md**. Kept for detail and provenance — do not read the
> status below as live.


---
name: ARC 404 page — design + build pending
description: Surfaced 2026-05-03 during _layout.scss SCSS audit — the .wrapper.not-found CSS rule was dead code (no template, no build path, no class application), but ARC genuinely needs a 404 page. Existing content/404.md is Jekyll-era leftover. Need: ARC-voice 404 design + Hakyll build path + template.
type: project
originSessionId: 8d9ac240-47df-4578-aec1-a9dd32965027
---
# ARC 404 page — design + build pending

**Surfaced:** 2026-05-03 during `_layout.scss` SCSS audit. The `.wrapper.not-found` CSS rule (~50 lines including dark-mode override) was dead code — no template, no `site.hs` build path, no class assignment anywhere. Removed in audit commit. **Side finding**: the gap is real. ARC has no 404 page.

**Steward acknowledgment 2026-05-03**: *"So we need to design a 404 page…"*

## What exists currently

- `content/404.md` — Jekyll-era leftover content with frontmatter (`title: "Page Not Found"`, `layout: 404`, `permalink: "/404.html"`). Body has a `# 404` heading, a poetic blockquote, some content. Not built by current Hakyll `site.hs` (no rule processes it). Effectively orphaned.
- `_layout.scss` had a `.wrapper.not-found` rule (now removed) — display-large h1 (5rem), centered layout, dark-mode color override. Dead code; selector never applied anywhere.

## What's needed

1. **ARC-voice content** for 404 — quiet, contemplative, acknowledges absence without performance:
   - Possibly Latin (the site's register; *non est inventus* / *nusquam*)
   - English short prose with a graceful return path
   - Could lean into the *Animal Rationis Capax* posture: even being-lost is part of the search
   - Might use a quiet ornament or §IV Pause/Close moment when designed
2. **Template** — `templates/404.html` or similar; renders with site header/footer; no breadcrumb (since the user is by definition off-path)
3. **Build path in `site.hs`** — process `content/404.md` (or replacement) into `_site/404.html`
4. **Server config** — CloudFlare Pages will use `_site/404.html` automatically as the 404 page if it exists at the root; verify via test
5. **CSS** — minimal; depending on the design decisions, may not need a dedicated `_404.scss` partial. The previous `.wrapper.not-found` over-specified things that the existing site rules already handle.

## Design questions for the steward

- **Voice register** — academic Latin, contemplative English, mixed?
- **Length** — single line of prose, short paragraph, brief poem-like fragment?
- **Visual treatment** — quiet h1 (per §I.d scale), or display-size deviation (the previous 5rem)? Honest read: respecting the §I.d scale is more consistent; display-size was probably an accidental "404 should be big" reflex
- **Return path** — link to home? link to Reading Compass? Multiple paths?
- **Ornament** — none, or use the (eventually-designed) §IV Close ornament as the gesture-of-completion-even-in-absence?
- **Latin or English first?** — ARC's typography page uses English-first; bio is English; a Latin 404 could be the one place where the site's Latin name (Animal Rationis Capax) speaks plainly to a lost reader

## Sequencing

Not urgent — site works without 404; users hitting non-existent URLs see browser-default or CDN-default 404 page. But meaningful: the 404 is one of those *quiet places where the site speaks to the lost reader*, and an ARC 404 should be considered carefully (Bringhurst-discipline applies even — perhaps especially — to the page no one means to find).

Best moment: a small focused session (1-2 hours including content draft + template + build path + test). Could pair naturally with:

- The colophon rewrite (also pending — both are about-page-adjacent, both speak in ARC's voice to the reader)
- The §IV Pause/Close ornament design (404 might be the one place the Close ornament makes most sense — the *finis* of an unintended journey)

## Cross-references

- `content/404.md` — orphaned content; review or replace as part of this work
- `_layout.scss` audit commit — removed the dead `.wrapper.not-found` CSS
- `project-arc-pause-close-ornament-and-hr-audit-pending.md` — the §IV ornament question; 404 is a candidate context for the Close ornament
- The eventual colophon rewrite — adjacent voice work