Expert’s Rating
Our Verdict
Web developer present a bunch of short problems in their day - to - solar day life , so it ’s always nice when utility can help simplify those problems . Take Scott Wheeler ’s freeLocalghost 1.0 , which simplify the job of editing your computer ’s hosts file to point certain field public figure towards your own reckoner .
The hosts file is kind of a local override for the Domain Name System ; it allows you to force a specific domain name ( say www.example.com ) to go to another site . In the slip of Localghost , it serves one particular function : defining world names that point back to your own figurer , using its loopback address ( that ’s the IP address 127.0.0.1 , also known as localhost — hence the program ’s name ) .
Localghost ’s interface and capabilities are barren bones , but it does just what it says on the tin . you could create and maintain a lean of domain name ’s in the program ’s preferences , then habituate the menu bar ikon to enable or incapacitate any number of those domains at will .
You ca n’t , however , teach domain name calling to point to anything other than the localhost and neither can you point certain domain to sure ports on your computer , though the developer plans to add up the latter characteristic in a succeeding update . In either face , while Localghost is not necessarily a one - stop host lodge editor , it ought to simplify matter for many web developer .
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[ Dan Moren is a Macworld older assoicate editor . ]
