Webdesign # nHTTP: A HTTP/1.1-HTTP/1.0 Proxy to load and display modern websites in old browsers

(Bild)The program is a very lightweight proxy server (under 30 KB) that, if desired, sends HTTP/1.0 requests to websites as HTTP/1.1 and converts them back to HTTP/1.0 on the return path. It also includes some other options for older browsers.

Stone-age browsers like Internet Explorer 1.0, Cello, and Mosaic only understand HTTP/1.0. Nowadays, however, servers use HTTP/1.1 or even HTTP/2.0. Since you can't run an old HTTP/1.0 server anymore for security reasons (you'd be hacked and part of a botnet in a second), this is, of course, bad for the retro scene because websites cannot be accessed with very old browsers, as the error from Internet Explorer 1.0 Beta 206 in the screenshot on the right shows. It doesn't help even if you program the site with ancient HTML designs, as I did with old.retrospace.net.

In somewhat newer versions like Internet Explorer 2.0, CSS and Javascript are often incorrectly rendered as text, and images are missing. You can counter this with additional options that automatically remove disruptive CSS and convert all modern PNG images—on the fly—to GIF. Additionally, websites compressed with gzip are unpacked by the proxy. Unfortunately, HTTPS and submitting form data do not work, as that places greater demands on the proxy. Here, I would fall back on the larger project WebOne, which also offers options for browsers that do not provide proxy server configurations.

The download comes with `nHTTP.exe` itself and an `nHTTP.vbs`. The latter starts nHTTP using VBScript with all parameters in an invisible window:

Codeblock:

Since VBS files are plain text, the switches can be adjusted according to your needs. The default is port 8889 and none of the options. nHTTP supports the following switches:

nhttp [/p(port)] [/http1] [/nopng] [/nocss] [/nojs]

/http1 Emulates HTTP/1.0
/nopng Converts PNG to GIF
/nocss Removes CSS
/nojs Removes Javascript

(Bild)The host (proxy server) requires Windows XP with .NET Framework 2.0 or newer. The client then only needs to enter the IP of the host with port 8889 as the proxy server.

Once that's done, you only need to restart the browser (in some cases), and nothing stands in the way of retro-surfing enjoyment!

(Bild)

Download

Download link: nHTTP (RAR, 9 KB)

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