To simply start an arbitrary HTTP server to serve up files in a directory I use ...

lisperforlife on June 15, 2011 | parent | context | favorite | on: PDF Reader in JavaScript

To simply start an arbitrary HTTP server to serve up files in a directory I use python's SimpleHTTPServer. This works on most Linux and Mac boxes as they package python along with the distribution or the OS.

python -m SimpleHTTPServer

This serves the files off the current folder under port 8000.

bergie on June 15, 2011 [–]

Something similar for Node.js: https://github.com/balupton/simple-server