How do I view a plain text file in the browser, rather than triggering the download menu ("What should Firefox do with this file")?
I regularly (attempt to) view plain text files, but Firefox wants to download them rather than display them.
Until yesterday, I could type "view-source" before the URL and it worked. No more. Quite frustrating.
Here's an example: I just want to view this text file in the browser.
ftp://tgftp.nws.noaa.gov/SL.us008001/DF.c5/DC.mos/DS.mexfe/sn.0010.txt
Thanks for any advice!
All Replies (4)
I would try an add-on to get this function: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/open-in-browser/?src=search
Thanks, this does work for http but apparently not ftp, i.e. not for the link I posted.
It seems odd and inconvenient that an add-on is needed for such a simple function. What could be simpler than viewing a text file?
Modified by richardatpsu
You are right about FTP: https://github.com/Rob--W/open-in-browser/issues/60
Reading the discussion there, it seems in Firefox "FTP requests are not visible to the extension via this API."
You can read more about how things have changed for FTP starting in FFX 70 here: https://www.reddit.com/r/firefox/comments/dn0rxg/firefox_70_breaks_contenttype_and/
This page describes how Firefox 70 and later download FTP instead of rendering them in the browser, and is linked from the above discussion: https://www.fxsitecompat.dev/en-CA/docs/2019/all-ftp-resources-are-now-downloaded-instead-of-being-rendered/
See also an article from 2018 entitled "Chrome and Firefox Developers Aim to Remove Support for FTP." https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/google/chrome-and-firefox-developers-aim-to-remove-support-for-ftp/
It seems there is more to it that the wished-for simple function.
Many thanks, that explains it. This is a disappointing change, in my view, but it seems there's no way around it.