Issue with Custom 404 Page Rendering in Django

I'm encountering an issue with my custom 404 page rendering functionality in Django. Despite setting up the necessary components, the custom 404 page is not being displayed when a page is not found. Here's an overview of my setup:

404 Template (error404.html):

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
    <meta charset="UTF-8">
    <title>Page Not Found</title>
</head>
<body>
    <h1>404 - Page Not Found</h1>
    <p>The page you are looking for does not exist.</p>
    <p>Tommy the train!</p>
</body>
</html>

404 Template Render View (custom_404_view):

from django.shortcuts import render

def custom_404_view(request, exception):
    return render(request, 'home1/error404.html', status=404)

URL Configuration (urls.py):

handler404 = 'home1.views.custom_404_view'

Settings:

ALLOWED_HOSTS = ['localhost', '127.0.0.1', '::1']
DEBUG = True

Despite configuring everything as mentioned above, the custom 404 page does not appear when a page is not found. I've ensured that DEBUG is set to True in my settings. Can anyone spot what might be causing the issue or suggest any additional troubleshooting steps?

I attempted to implement custom 404 page rendering functionality in Django by following the steps outlined in my question. Here's a summary of what I tried and what I expected to happen:

  1. Implemented 404 Template: I created a custom HTML template named error404.html containing the necessary markup for a 404 error page.

  2. Defined Custom 404 View: I defined a view function named custom_404_view in my Django application (home1.views) to render the custom 404 template when a page is not found.

  3. Configured URL Handler: I configured the handler404 variable in my urls.py file to point to the custom 404 view.

  4. Checked Settings: I verified that the DEBUG setting in my Django project's settings file is set to True, and also ensured that my ALLOWED_HOSTS includes the necessary values.

Expectation: I expected that when a page is not found (e.g., accessing a non-existent URL), Django would render my custom 404 page (error404.html) instead of the default 404 page.

Actual Result: Despite following the above steps and ensuring that all configurations are correct, the custom 404 page is not being displayed when a page is not found. Instead, the default Django 404 page is shown.

When you use DEBUG = True, your custom view will never be used, as stated in the docs:

If DEBUG is set to True (in your settings module), then your 404 view will never be used, and your URLconf will be displayed instead, with some debug information.

You need to change DEBUG to False to see your custom page.

Also, if you configured your root template directory, you don't need to set urls or handlers. If you only need to show your custom error template and nothing else (which seems to be the case based on the template you posted), just rename your template to 404.html and put it on the root template folder that django will render it automatically.

By default, it’s the view django.views.defaults.page_not_found(), which either produces a “Not Found” message or loads and renders the template 404.html if you created it in your root template directory.

This works with other errors as well, like using a template named 500.html.

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