How to Use an HTML in XAMPP
By Sara Williams
XAMPP is an Apache, MySQL and PHP package that is easy to install on personal computers where many developers and hobbyists like to do their local testing. The advantage of testing websites locally -- on your own computer rather than an online Web server -- is that you can develop and test code without clogging up Web-hosting space or risking any of the public seeing your sensitive information. You can also speed up development because local servers eliminate the need for uploading files via an FTP client, which is sometimes time-consuming.
Go to "Start" on the Windows taskbar and type "XAMPP" into the search box. Select "XAMPP Control Panel" and press the "Enter" key. Start Apache from the XAMPP Control Panel. Apache is ready for use once you see the word "Running" highlighted in green.
Go to "Start" and open "Computer." Navigate to your XAMPP folder, normally found as a top-level folder under your computer's main hard drive. Open the htdocs folder.
Open "Computer" again and navigate to the folder where you keep your HTML files. If you do not already have any HTML files created, create one and save it to the htdocs folder under the XAMPP folder. Copy and paste your HTML files, if you find any, in to the htdocs folder.
Start your Web browser and type "localhost/filename.html" into the address bar. Press "Enter" and watch your HTML file load as a Web page. Now your Apache server that came with XAMPP is serving your Web pages.
Tips
- Make folders under htdocs if you want to create sub-directories for your locally host website.
- Turn on MySQL to install blogging systems for testing or to practice working with websites that use PHP and MySQL code. Do this from the XAMPP control panel as you did with Apache.
Warnings
- XAMPP and Skype use conflicting settings; change your port settings in Skype to resolve the issue.
Writer Bio
Sara Williams lives in western New York, where she is a freelance Web designer and content writer. She specializes in Web design, development and computer-hardware topics. Williams holds an Associate of Applied Science in computer information systems.