Stylesheets in Firefox and Chrome

1. Background
   
             A basic security idea for browser's security is the same-origin policy (discussion here) which protects web sites from one another. For example, the same-origin policy stops a news site from reading the contents of your Gmail inbox or use Javascript to access information from other frames in the same window. 
   Different browsers have different security approaches:
   
   Google Chrome :
   
   • prevents users from clicking Internet-based hyperlinks to local web pages 
   • blocks local web pages from reading the contents of arbitrary web sites
   Firefox:
   • blocks local web pages from reading Internet pages
   • restricts a local web page to reading only files in the same directory, or a subdirectory
2. Problem: 
             If you have an .xml file that references an .xls,  (both files are locale),  when I open it in Firefox the stylesheet is not applied. The contents appear unformatted.  If I open it with Chrome a blank page appears,  and I get an error on the Developer Console:
   Unsafe attempt to load URL file:///C:/test.xsl from frame with URL file:///test.xml. Domains, protocols and ports must match.
   
   
3. Workaround:
   
   
   • Firefox: This site explains how to enable local documents to have access to all other local documents, including directory listings. And security implications, recommended settings, etc.
   • From a discussion on issue 39616, a workaround for Chrome is to start it with following 2 flags:  --enable-file-cookies --disable-web-security. 
   
   
4. References:
   1. Security in Depth: Local Web Pages
   2. Firefox Security.fileuri.strict origin policy
   3. Chromium Issue 39616: XML with XSL not shown