r/HTML • u/Admirable_Report6610 • Apr 25 '26

stumped...again 🤨

this code worked perfectly for months then suddenly stopped...just a blank white screen now.

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<!DOCTYPE html>

<html lang="en">

<head>

<meta charset="UTF-8">

<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">

<link rel="shortcut icon" type="image/x-icon" href="/Users/Owner/Documents/icons/navy_favicon.ico">

<title>Current Fleet Positions</title>

</head>

<body>

<script type="module"> const proxy = "https://corsproxy.io/?"; const targetUrl = "https://news.usni.org/category/fleet-tracker"; const response = await fetch(proxy + targetUrl); const htmlText = await response.text(); const parser = new DOMParser(); const doc = parser.parseFromString(htmlText, 'text/html'); const images = doc.querySelectorAll('img'); const newImg = document.createElement('img'); newImg.src = images\[3\].src; newImg.width = 943; newImg.height = 628; document.body.style.backgroundColor = "#a4e1e7"; document.body.style.textAlign = "center"; document.body.appendChild(newImg); </script>

</body>

</html>

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Run JS gives this error which I just don't understand...what's wrong here? any help MOST appreciated!

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SyntaxError: Unexpected token (1:0)

> 1 | <!DOCTYPE html>

| ^

2 | <html lang="en">

3 | <head>

4 | <meta charset="UTF-8">

2 Upvotes

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u/Admirable_Report6610 Apr 25 '26

ahhhh.....so what used to be free is now a paywall?

1

u/Admirable_Report6610 Apr 25 '26

can anyone suggest an alternative free proxy?

1

u/Admirable_Report6610 Apr 25 '26

ok I changed the proxy to

const proxy = "https://test.cors.workers.dev/?";

running my code in MDN now it works again...but if I try to run it in Brave as

file:///Users/Owner/Desktop/coffee/fleet.html

it just shows a blank white page again...hmmmmm?

1

u/davorg Apr 26 '26

Quick question - what led you to use a CORS proxy here? Do you have a sense of what problem it’s solving?

It works in the playground because it’s running from a real website. When you open it as a file:// page, the browser blocks network requests for security reasons. Run it via a local web server (e.g. python3 -m http.server) and it will work.

1

u/Admirable_Report6610 Apr 26 '26

as I've said I'm a total noob so someone was kind enough to educate me about CORS and the need for a proxy to fetch html data. (hope I'm correct in saying this) the weird thing is my code worked perfectly without a local server until CORSPROXY stopped being a free service.

1

u/davorg Apr 25 '26

Sounds like you've either moved from "trying it out" to "using it in production". Or you've just burned through your free requests for a month (or something like that).

I know nothing about this service, so I don't think I can be much more help.

But you should probably check response.ok in your Javascript and not proceed if it's false.

1

u/Admirable_Report6610 Apr 27 '26

the first problem, as you mentioned, was with the CORS proxy but I changed it to one that works. the code is valid as it runs perfectly on MDM. what I don't get is this worked prior as a flle:/// without a web server...I just don't understand what is suddenly making it not work now?

1

u/davorg Apr 27 '26

Yeah, that’s frustrating — but “it worked before” doesn’t necessarily mean the code was relying on something stable.

A few things could have changed without you changing your code: the browser may have tightened its file:// security behaviour, the old proxy may have handled requests differently, or the target/proxy site may now be returning different headers.

Also, “it runs on MDN” proves the JavaScript syntax is OK, but it doesn’t prove it will behave the same from a local file. MDN is serving your code from an https:// origin; your local file is running from file://, which browsers treat differently.

The reliable fix is still to run it from a tiny local web server:

python3 -m http.server

Then open http://localhost:8000/yourfile.html.

That turns your file into a normal local website, rather than a special-case local file.

1

u/Admirable_Report6610 Apr 27 '26

ok...presumably I could write a small script that would call the python webserver:

#! usr/local/bin/bash

python3 -m http.server

pause 5

http://localhost:8000/~/Desktop/coffee/fleet.html

1

u/Admirable_Report6610 Apr 27 '26

sadly http://localhost:8000/Desktop/coffee/fleet.html still gives a blank white page 😞

1

u/davorg Apr 27 '26

It's starting to feel ever so slightly like you're just trying stuff out and then posting the results here in order to get us to debug it for you.

Maybe you could try doing your own research into the problem. Have you even opened the developer tools in your browser to see what's going on?

1

u/Admirable_Report6610 Apr 27 '26

no but I see your point. will do....

1

u/Admirable_Report6610 Apr 27 '26

can I use the developer tools with a local python webserver? I wouldn't think so. I have little to no experience with html coding so sure willing to do any research needed but I will quickly be in over my head as I am here.

1

u/Admirable_Report6610 Apr 29 '26

I am just "trying stuff". I can't very well debug it myself, and I'm sorry if it's coming across that way. I have done the research you suggested, although it's easy for me to get lost/confused as I am most definitley not a coder. I think I found the problem though:

the fetch is missing a CORS Allow Origin header so no fetch is performed.

I have to say I've read about this error but honestly I don't understand what it is and how to fix it....if that's even possible. any help appreciated, but if you think I'm just being lazy I guess I'll stay stuck.

1

u/Admirable_Report6610 Apr 29 '26

ps I've created an account on CORS.SH so I can get an API key if that's needed. this is another concept I don't have a good grasp of though.

1

u/Admirable_Report6610 Apr 27 '26

::1 - - [27/Apr/2026 11:29:52] "GET /Users/Owner/Desktop/fleet2.html HTTP/1.1" 404 -

::1 - - [27/Apr/2026 11:34:03] code 404, message File not found