I just learned something really cool (and scary)…
So I had saved some article on my hard-drive, and at the top of a the page was a hyperlink to whatever website it came from.
When I clicked on the hyperlink, it took me to this path in FireFox…
file:///
…which in turn displays all directories on my MacBook at the Root Level.
That’s crazy?! (:
Should I be scared or anything?! :-/
Sincerely,
Debbie
The file URI scheme has been around for a while (cerca 1997). You can browse the local file structure of your drive through your browser.
Your files are only available as read-only and only locally. I have yet to hear of the file URI scheme being the source of a security issue.
Thanks for the link.
Is there any practical application for what I stumbled across last night?
Do you personally ever do anything with this?
Sincerely,
Debbie
Opening local files that need a browser to open, such as html files.
Sometimes, CDs are distributed that have instructions or documentation that are a collection of static html pages, rather than a PDF or plain text file.
Do you personally ever do anything with this?
When I’m working on a new web site design, I tend to work with just local files until I’m ready to turn it into an actual template for whatever platform that it’s intended for. For that, you need a browser that will open local files.
I use it quite often. For “simple” testing of pages that are only HTML/CSS/javascript and don’t need a localhost server (eg. PHP pages) it’s often easier to just have the browser open the file.
Interesting…
Okay, thanks!
Debbie