THE GITHTML FIELD GUIDE
Find hidden URL assumptions introduced by an HTML base element
Look for a base element when many relative references resolve somewhere unexpected. It changes how relative URLs are interpreted across the document. Before removing or changing it, inventory the affected resources and links. For portable reports, explicit same-document navigation and deliberately packaged assets are usually easier to reason about.
Understand the scope of the assumption
An export may include a base URL pointing at its original website. This can make relative images appear to work during one preview while quietly sending requests elsewhere when the file moves. A link that looks local in the source may therefore depend on a remote origin. Inspect the head before rewriting dozens of individual references.
The base element can affect ordinary hyperlinks as well as asset URLs. That makes it a document-wide assumption, not merely an image setting. A same-document fragment can also interact with the base URL in ways that surprise authors expecting a purely local jump. Record the intended destination for each category of link before changing the shared rule.
Choose a coherent packaging model
One model is a website export whose relative references intentionally use an established public origin. Another is a portable report whose essential content travels in one file. Problems arise when an artifact claims the second model but still relies on the first. Decide which promise you can actually support and label external dependencies accordingly.
If the goal is portability, move essential styles into the document and handle selected visuals deliberately. Replace site-navigation links with meaningful references or remove them when they serve no purpose in the report. Do not simply delete the base element and assume everything is fixed; paths that depended on it will now resolve differently and need review.
Test a representative set of references
Use one image, one stylesheet, one section link, and one external citation as probes. They exercise different expectations and can expose partial fixes. Keep scripts off during the initial inspection so runtime rewriting does not mask the static document's behavior. If the export tool keeps reinserting the base element, correct its configuration or post-export process rather than editing only one generated file.
- Find any base element and record its href value.
- List which references are relative and which are absolute.
- Define whether each link should stay within the artifact or leave it.
- Apply one consistent packaging approach.
- Recheck same-document navigation and optional external links separately.
- Document any dependency on the original site's availability and authorization.
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