Service unavailable pages

Tell the user a service is unavailable on purpose. These are also known as 503 and shutter pages.

When to use this pattern

Use a service unavailable page when a service has been closed on purpose. This could be for a specific period of time or permanently.

If there is a problem with the service, use a there is a problem with the service page.

Have a general page in case you need to close a service and do not have time to update the page. As soon as you know when the service will be available, update the page.

How it works

The page should have:

• as the page title:
  • in Greek ‘Λυπούμαστε, η ιστοσελίδα είναι προσωρινά μη διαθέσιμη – service name – gov.cy’
  • in English: ‘Sorry, the website is temporarily unavailable – service name – gov.cy ’
• as the H1
  • in Greek: ‘Λυπούμαστε, η ιστοσελίδα είναι προσωρινά μη διαθέσιμη’
  • in English: ‘Sorry, the website is temporarily unavailable’
• if know the day, date and time it is going to be available or what to do if it is permanently closed
• if possible, information about what has happened to their answers if they are in the middle of a transaction
• contact information, if it exists and helps meet a user need
• a link to another service, if they can use it to do what they came to do

Have clear and concise content and do not use:

• breadcrumbs
• vague, unhelpful words like maintenance, improvements
• red text to warn people

Example in Greek

Example in English