Apache server question

[Stephen Brenner]

When I load a local file in Netscape as "file:/home/httpd/html"
I don't get any web server response (default index.html not honored,
cgi scripts displayed as text, etc.). The httpd daemon is running, 
and I've changed the httpd.conf, srm.conf, and access.conf to do 
everything... 

Do I need to use the "http:" convention to talk to the httpd? 
If so, how do I specify the localhost? 
I'm not on the Internet with this system, so I have no domain name, etc.

Thanks,

Steve