4.2 KiB
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# 404heading, a poetic blockquote, some content. Not built by current Hakyllsite.hs(no rule processes it). Effectively orphaned._layout.scsshad a.wrapper.not-foundrule (now removed) — display-large h1 (5rem), centered layout, dark-mode color override. Dead code; selector never applied anywhere.
What's needed
- 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
- Template —
templates/404.htmlor similar; renders with site header/footer; no breadcrumb (since the user is by definition off-path) - Build path in
site.hs— processcontent/404.md(or replacement) into_site/404.html - Server config — CloudFlare Pages will use
_site/404.htmlautomatically as the 404 page if it exists at the root; verify via test - CSS — minimal; depending on the design decisions, may not need a dedicated
_404.scsspartial. The previous.wrapper.not-foundover-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.scssaudit commit — removed the dead.wrapper.not-foundCSSproject-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