I’ve often talked about Brave and how it is doing things that are extremely pro-consumer and privacy-centric - why wouldn’t I as they seem to come out with super praiseworthy new features and efforts regularly.

In yet another positive move by Brave, the team is now tackling 404 errors after partnering with Wayback Machine, which is a digital archive that archives the entire internet (and with over 411 billion pages secured already.)

Anyone who has spent a little time on the internet will have run into a 404 error, which is about the most recognizable error on the internet. Sometimes you click on a link or one of your go-to resources/articles and find out that it’s missing.

Usually this means that the page has been deleted or moved - and is a pain as we have become increasingly reliant on the internet for our professional and personal lives.

What is Brave and Wayback Machine Doing about 404 Errors?

Well, it’s a simple idea but it’s very helpful.

The latest update to the Brave browser allows users to check for an archived version of the webpage by clicking on a button on the top right, which you can see below. Version 1.4 and onwards supports this feature.

If you do come across the error, you are greeted with “Sorry, that page is missing. Do you want to check if a saved version is available on the Wayback Machine.”

This direct integration means no extensions, it’s a simple and quick solution if you run into the problem. If you browse through data and previous reports like I do (and many crypto enthusiasts are information hungry) then this is a pretty useful tool to have.

Even better is the fact that the two entities are working on providing solutions for other error codes as well - 408, 410, 451, 500, 502, 503, 504, 509, 520, 521, 523, 524, 525 and 526.

These are less common errors but the effort is very much appreciated.

How Does it Work?

Take a look at the White House page related to Climate Change below (which refers to the incident where the Trump administration took down the Climate Change page). Clicking on the button on the top right takes you an archived version of the page.

Here are some more cool examples of 404 pages: Lego, IMDB and Slack.

I’m happy to see Brave any positive change to the browser, however small and select the functionality. What do you think about this new addition and Brave’s general effort to make web access easier and better? Personally, what's really exciting me is the range and depth of changes that Brave is bringing.