When you visit websites on the internet, you access them through your web browser. The basis for this transmission, which is handled by default through TCP, is the stateless protocol HTTP (“Hypertext Transfer Protocol”), which describes the initial exchange of messages between web server and browser. According to the classic client-server principle, the browser issues an HTTP request, after which the server sends back a response which includes a status code.
While you don’t notice most of this communication as a user, the situation is usually different when it comes to HTTP error codes: if a problem occurs during the exchange, the browser often presents corresponding code in the 4xx and 5xx series, which stand for various client or server-side error sources. For example, the HTTP 408 message tells you that the client request timed out. How, exactly, this timeout occurs and how you can solve the problem will be explained in this guide.