# It Looks Like This **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 6, 2015, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-looks-like-this/733688 "2015-10-06T05:21:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2015, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-looks-like-this/733688/21 "2015-10-07T04:16:52Z")
> [@WF\_Tomba](#): > > What has me a little puzzled is that the URL for that image indicates that it is just a regular JPEG being hosted on a Tapatalk site. If **Happy** ’s browser is doing something other than just displaying the image in a blank page, one of the following things is going on: > > 1. It’s not really a JPEG file, even though it has a .jpg filename extension. That would be a weird and bad thing for Tapatalk to do. > 2. The server is somehow telling the browser to do something unusual. I don’t know enough about HTTP headers to be sure that that’s not possible, but it would also be a weird and bad thing for Tapatalk to do. > 3. **Happy** ’s browser is set to do something funny when he clicks a direct link to a JPEG file, like create a new file in a directory somewhere, or even hand him off to a different program. That would be a weird and bad setting for his browser to have. It’s not #3. I’ve been quite active in [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=717380) which is nothing but a series of posts with direct links to jpeg files, and it doesn’t happen with any of those links. I use Chrome, FYI, and when I click on the link it does indeed put a file into my Downloads folder and pop up a “download complete” bar at the bottom of my browser which then opens the jpeg in Windows Photo Viewer. ---
**Author:** ![Hopeful\_Crow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/da6949/32.png) [@Hopeful\_Crow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hopeful_Crow)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2015, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-looks-like-this/733688/22 "2015-10-07T19:29:38Z")
[QUOTE=Happy Lendervedder] The point is, it wasn’t a link to a normal web page. I personally don’t care for links that directly download a file like a jpg or pdf or word doc to my computer. I don’t like it, it makes me twitchy. All I was doing was giving other posters a heads-up that this link wasn’t a standard web page. [/QUOTE] I get a similar thing as **Happy** does. When I click on the link, I get a little window that says, "You have chosen to open: b856b…acd7f7d6.jpg, which is: JPG file (64.8KB), from http\*://images.tapatalk-cdn.com. What should Firefox do? " Then it lists my options. I’ve got no dog in this fight but the idea of a twitchy Happy makes me a bit nervous. Hopefully adding my experience will help untwitchify him and give those of you who know more about computers than I something more to go on. Also, I don’t recall this ever happening with any other link I’ve clicked on at the Dope. \*The asterisk were not an actual part of the message. And I shortened the file name, too. ---
**Author:** ![JustinC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justinc/32/8083_2.png) [@JustinC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JustinC)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2015, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-looks-like-this/733688/23 "2015-10-09T13:27:43Z")
Looks a bit like an [infinity mirror](https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=infinity+mirror&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAWoVChMIg6ff6r61yAIVxVoUCh1SmQir&biw=1366&bih=643) (just a link, not a download). ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2015, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-looks-like-this/733688/24 "2015-10-09T13:35:22Z")
I’m not sure everyone in this thread knows how a browser works. Browsers are not truly interactive clients; they’re basically file-displayers with static, user-driven operation. When you view a page, you’re not viewing some magical image of it projected from a server. You are downloading all of the component files and having them interpreted into text, pictures, layout, etc. Then, no matter how much flashy jumpy mov-ey things happen, absolutely nothing further happens with new files or the host server until the user clicks something. It’s a totally demand-driven, episodic, system - not some kind of low grade video game. Scripts, active code and automation have changed that somewhat and a page can now be more active than it was in the straight-HTML days, but in the end, it’s still (1) grab a bunch of files from a server (2) render them for display (3) halt until the user takes you back to (1). The idea that a JPEG would display on your system without being downloaded is… kinda odd. ---
**Author:** ![JustinC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justinc/32/8083_2.png) [@JustinC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JustinC)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2015, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-looks-like-this/733688/25 "2015-10-09T13:51:40Z")
It’s still a bit unnerving, when something ‘downloads’ to my computer and I haven’t asked for it. Isn’t that how bugs and naughty code get delivered? Also, if the pic has already downloaded onto my computer, how come when I right click and ‘save’ a picture it takes a few seconds? Shouldn’t it be instant? ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2015, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-looks-like-this/733688/26 "2015-10-09T14:57:41Z")
When I was a kid my dad would take me and my brother to a barber shop that had mirrors on opposite walls. While getting our hair cut, if one got just the right angle, you could see around 12 or 13 images of your face and the back of your head. ---
**Author:** ![antechinus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/fbc32d/32.png) [@antechinus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antechinus)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2015, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-looks-like-this/733688/27 "2015-11-01T20:18:58Z")
Like the old Dr Who intro using video feedback. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2015, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-looks-like-this/733688/28 "2015-11-01T21:27:47Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > The point is, it wasn’t a link to a normal web page. I personally don’t care for links that directly download a file like a jpg or pdf or word doc to my computer. I don’t like it, it makes me twitchy. All I was doing was giving other posters a heads-up that this link wasn’t a standard web page. I would much rather have a link to a plain jpg than a link to a webpage that may contain gosh knows what advertising, tracking, and malware in addition to perhaps whatever it is I hope to see or read. With a link to a jpg/png/gif, I know I’m getting an image, a whole image, and nothing but an image. And with modern browsers, I know that’s 100% safe. The one thing I know for sure about \*any \*other sort of page content is that I can’t absolutely guarantee it’s safe no matter what defenses I have up. ---
**Author:** ![jimbuff314](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c57346/32.png) [@jimbuff314](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimbuff314)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2015, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-looks-like-this/733688/29 "2015-11-01T22:34:15Z")
+1. Also, the file name in the OP’s link ends in “.jpg”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-looks-like-this/733688.md?page=1)