If you administer a machine which is a node on the Internet and which runs continuously, then you may consider installing your own server. A server is a program that reacts to queries from Web browsers and ships off the file requested. These transactions are frequently conducted using the HyperText Transport Protocol (HTTP), and though there are a variety of http servers out there, I found that the (public domain) http server by Apache works `out of the box'. The Apache server for Unix systems has to be configured and compiled to create an executable for your particular kind of machine (which means you will have to have a C compiler), but this is pretty straightforward because the Apache http server is very well documented. A Unix http server is called `httpd', which stands for `http daemon' (a daemon is a Unix background process, and the http daemon usually monitors port 80, waking up whenever a request for a document comes in). Information about the Apache Unix server can be found at the following URL:
For the Macintosh, you need not download a server -- it comes preinstalled on Mac OS X 10.x. Just go to System Preferences -> Sharing -> Personal Web Sharing.
For other systems, see
Yahoo Information Page on Servers
I should warn you that servers, if not configured properly, can be a security risk; they could provide an avenue for hackers to break into your machine.