Scripsit Chris F.A. Johnson:
Alternatively, you can rename the file from file.html to file.txt
That might not help in all cases.
First, the file name suffix has no magic in itself. It's the HTTP
headers that specify whether a resource is to be treated as HTML, as
plain text, or as something else. On the other hand, using ".txt"
_usually_ makes the server send a header that tells that the resource is
plain text.
Second, IE has been observed to ignore the HTTP header and treat data as
HTML, if IE "thinks" that it "looks like" HTML. This is all wrong, but
what can you do?
And does it matter? Anyone who can possibly benefit from seeing HTML
markup probably knows how to do View Source. On the other hand, HTML
markup written by someone who does odd tricks to do a simple thing and
multiposts advice on it is hardly worth copying or imitating.