I use python3 (3.4+) to create a bash function to help me start quickly a simple http server on specified port
function server() {
local port="${1:-8000}" # Getting port number
google-chrome "http://127.0.0.1:$port" # Open URL in browser, could change to firefox --new-tab "http://127.0.0.1:$port"
python3 -m http.server $port --bind 127.0.0.1
}