How to open local files in a mac via browser

[Phil Gent]

Hi,
I am making a database based PHP site for my friend to run locally on his mac.

He wants a page where he can click on a link to his most used files - word docs etc. stored on his desktop for instance.

I thought this would be easy by using the following;-

<a href='file:///folder/word.doc'>Open file</a>

I tested this on my PC at work (NOT on local webserver) and it opened files fine for me however I can't seem to open files on the mac via http://localhost/...

Can anyone shed some light on this please ?
Could this be a permissions issue ??

Help much appreciated as I'm pulling my hair out
Phil

[MusoFreak200]

phil gent,

even though this is not a html/css question i can safetly say that this is probably caused by not having a mac php server set up on the mac system.
if you would like to learn more on this subject invloving opening files on windows, mac, and linux/unix systems please refer to these published writings

http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596157142

and this is the php server which is usable on all OS:

http://www.easyphp.org/

i hope that helps and if it does please mark this reply as answer sovled
okay enjoy

[Phil Gent]

Thanks for your response Musofreak.
I have Apache and MAMP installed and running with no problems.
Irrespective of my PHP code, all I need to know is how to launch a file which is stored locally on the mac (in a folder that is not viewable by Apache server).

If I type the path from the code above into the address bar of either Safari or Firefox then it will open the file, but the link itself does not work.