CSS and Absolute Paths

[sdleihssirhc]

I would like to use an absolute path to link all my pages to a single CSS file.

But when I try this out (testing pages on my own computer, with the HTML and CSS files located on a thumb drive), it acts as if the file doesn't exist.

I know it's not a typo, I know the file is actually there, etc. etc.

So, basically, absolute paths just can't get to thumb drives? (I guess it's a silly question; everything works fine when I upload it to the server.)

[Mittineague]

A browser uses HTTP and an OS uses the filesystem. I have no trouble with paths when it's within the localhost, but I have never tried it to another drive. You may get it to work using something like
href="file:/E/file.css" (or "file:\E\file.css" with Windows) instead of "http://", but I thiink the easiest thing to do would be to place a copy of the file within the localhost.

[sdleihssirhc]

None of the files are on a server, yet; they're all resting safe on the thumb drive (within the XAMPP htdocs file, so that I can test the PHP).

The css file is located at H:/xampp/htdocs/styles/file.css (No http)

But for some reason, the following doesn't work:

<link href="H:/xampp/htdocs/styles/file.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" />

As I said, using absolute paths once everything's moved to the server...

<link href="http://www.mydomain.com/styles/file.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" />

...works great. So the only trouble I'm having is while I'm designing the site on my local computer. I could just use relative paths until I move it online, but that seems like the coward's way out. What I'd like to do is just use PHP's $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] and stop thinking about it. Is it still doable?

[gary.turner]

Don't you need to use back slashes for Windows files?

cheers,

gary

[RyanReese]

Well if you want PHP to do this...(which would be extra work plus if your not using PHP for anything else in the document your making the server work harder by running the PHP through it and "compiling it") then why not post in their forum?

I'm a coward-relative it is.

[Paul O'B]

Isn't it something like this on windows.

<link href="file:///E|/xampp/htdocs/styles/file.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" />

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_URI_scheme

[RyanReese]

Well this is opening up a local file on my desktop

file://localhost/C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ryan%20Reese/Desktop/asdfasdfthisisnewbbbbb.html

[Paul O'B]

Well this is opening up a local file on my desktop

file://localhost/C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ryan%20Reese/Desktop/asdfasdfthisisnewbbbbb.html

localhost is assumed if omitted and the colon is changed to a bar for conformance which also leaves you with the example I posted

[Paul O'B]

Well this is opening up a local file on my desktop

file://localhost/C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ryan%20Reese/Desktop/asdfasdfthisisnewbbbbb.html

localhost is assumed if omitted and the bar can be used instead of the colon which also leaves you with the example I posted

[AlexDawson]

Am I the only person thinking this or surely the problem with files not being found might be if the drive letter used is invalid (sometimes Windows likes to reassign drive letters), it would explain why the path isn't displaying the files (as relatively they do exist but absolutely they are invalid due to the drive letter used upon plugging in... which is why I would only ever use relative links on a removable storage device.

[Mittineague]

Good point. I had blocked out the memory of my last crash/reinstall until that jarred my memory. But one of the (many) pains I encountered was a temporary virtual drive taking up a drive letter that caused the others to get "bumped around" a bit.

I don't know how I'd go about figuring out where the localhost server would need to reference it if I absolutely had to. A long grueling session of trial and error I guess. Unless someone else in a forum happened to know.

[sdleihssirhc]

gary.turner: I’ve always used forward slashes while working on my Windows XP, and it never gave me trouble before. Plus, I went through and tried the various options with backslashes instead of forward slashes; still no go.

RyanReese 1: The project I’m working on consists almost entirely of PHP-built pages, so I won’t just be calling the one variable (that would be silly). But the problem seems to be with the address itself, not that PHP is piping it in. Even when the absolute path is just typed into an HTML file, it still won’t load. I wasn’t sure where to go with a path question; because I was using it with a CSS <link>, I decided on here.

Paul O’B: Tried that after reading your suggestion. Still didn’t work.

RyanReese 2: Frustratingly enough, this does work, while Paul O’B’s didn’t. After much guesswork and experimentation, I discovered that if the HTML file is located on a thumb drive (regardless of where the CSS file is located), then absolute paths (referring to other parts of the localhost) don’t work. But if the HTML is somewhere on the actual computer, such as C, then (even if the CSS is on a thumb drive!) it can use absolute paths. It’s annoying.

AlexDawson: When I’m testing the HTML in a browser (I use Chrome), it can’t locate the CSS. This seems to point to your being right – the thumb drive isn’t using a “real” letter, because it’s not a "real" drive? (I probably don’t have the vocabulary right; I don’t know very much about this side of computers. But I do recall this coming up when installing XAMPP. It said NOT to designate a permanent drive letter if it was going on a thumb drive, which it was, because [I assumed] those letters can change.)

However, when I direct my browser to H:/xampp/htdocs/styles/file.css, it downloads the CSS into "My Documents/My Downloads" just fine. Also, why would display correctly when the HTML is in C, but the CSS is in H, as I mentioned above? And, why would the browser be able to locate the HTML, but not the CSS?

(Thank you all for the time and help, btw.)

[DaveMaxwell]

I believe the problem lies in the way that your system is treating fixed drives vs variable drives (ie usb assigned drives). I don't believe you can hard code fixed paths to variably assigned drive names. I've attempted that in the past and have never had success.

In the long run, you'll be better off dealing with absolute paths based off the root of the web site anyways. If you define and reference from the root structure, then your structure can migrate from one location to the next (ie localhost to production server) without having to remember to make additional changes.

Edit:

This link is related to .net, but the answer matches what I thought - the mapped letter is for you while the web servers run under a different account and the drive isn't mapped for them.

http://www.eggheadcafe.com/conversat...eadid=29572924