>if the file is on your local hard drive, you shouldn't use "localhost", because K-Meleon doesn't recognize it and tries to find it on the web.
That is the bug I am pointing out. You can't say "because K-Meleon doesn't recognize it" as reason why this is a mute point. That is the problem; it should recognize it. The browser is not supposed to ignore the localhost URL and instead look for it on the web. It is supposed to use the localhost part to understand that the server is running locally, which is the same as K-Meleon has done historically as far back as I can remember (all the way up to and including 75.1), and the same as other browsers have done, still do, and will into the future. If the url is
http://localhost, or if it is merely localhost, localhost/name.html, localhost/name.php, or even if it is 127.0.0.1, the browser is supposed to check for a running server locally, and use it. By default, the IP address will be 127.0.0.1, and using port 80.
I have K-Meleon 75.1 installed, and it recognizes the URL the same as it always has, and the same as other browsers do.
As a developer that has written more browser code than most, I do know how this is supposed to work.
If file:// was the way to do this, you wouldn't need to run a server. Since browsers interpret simple HTML, it can handle the protocol file:// as a way to start the simple processing and display. While you can use file: as the protocol for simple html files, it does not work for files that need to be pre-processed (e.g., php, asp, etc). That is why browsers need to use the localhost as the clue to allow the local server to serve the document.
Sorry, but that is just how things are supposed to work, and why they still do, ... except for version 76 RC.
What you should do is install a LAMP and get experienced with how things work if you are going to post responses to these types of issues.