I am not sure of the context of SharePoint, but you can use a low cost office 365 subscription for about $5 per month. After all, you need SOME kind of web hosting plan.
So building something on your desktop via HTML would NOT result in you being able to move or publish that HTML to a web site UNLESS the web site is based on your given technology stack.
In other words, if you adopt the Oracle database, then your web site hosting must use oracle.
And if you develop your web site say using Linux and the Apache web server, then you cannot just move your HTML to a web server that is NOT based on Apache.
The HTML is not the issue, but the database stack and programming languages you require. HTML on its own cannot interact with just ANY database, but the web server in question you choose MUST support the technologies you used to BUILD the web site.
So you can most certainly find a web hosting provider that allows and supports an Access database. However, to interact and update data in that database, you need MORE than just HTML. So you likely have to adopt pearl, or say asp.net (and write code in say vb.net). And if you adopt pearl as your development language, then you MUST choose a web hosting provider that supports that programing language.
So you cannot just chose HTML, you need to adopt what is called a “development” stack. A common one is for example LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP).
If you web server is missing JUST ONE of the parts of the development stack in the above LAMP example (say the web site has SQL server in place of MySQL) then you can NOT publish to that web site in question and nor will your software run.
The problem here is you are NOT just display some HTML text in a web browser but ALSO WANT some kind of database interaction. HTML cannot achieve this data interface on its own (you need some kind of development language and system to INTERACT with the database).
So you can certainly code up some HTML pages for a web hosting provider that supports an Access database. Of course in this case, the access part ONLY has the tables, and none of the Access code can be used. Since the database part ONLY provides the tables, then there is little advantage to using Access as opposed to say MySQL or even one of the many free editions of SQL server.
And you can also adopt a web hosting provider that supports Access web services (you are wrong in that you need SharePoint – a low cost office 365 plan for about $5 per month can be had that supports Access web publishing.
I suppose you could build a HTML interface on your windows desktop that interacts with the Access database, but such a setup WOULD NOT ALLOW OTHERS to consume and use those web pages. In other words, a web server is required to “dish out” the HTML web pages in question.
Thus while you can build a HTML interface on your desktop without a web server, no one else except you the sole user of that computer would be able to launch and run that HTML page. (other users would not be able to connect to your desktop computer). If you want OTHER users to connect to your desktop and consume web pages then you MUST install a web server that can “serve” such web pages to a web browser. A web browser “connects” to a web server. I can no more connect to your computer to use Word then I can connect to your computer to consume HTML. You have to “run” some system that ALLOWS people to connect to your computer and consume web pages (that is what a web server does).
So you can use Pascal, c++, or HTML to build an interface to Access, but as such NONE of these options will work nor behave like a web server and only YOU and your SINGLE desktop would be able to use that HTML page. Given this being the case, then you might as well just build the user interface using Access on your desktop since it will be a zillion times less work then hand coding HTML. And the end results are the same – only you on your desktop with the Application installed will be able to edit and use the data with that software running on YOUR computer. So I cannot just use Excel from your computer anymore then some HTML sitting on your computer.
Building the application for your desktop using Access forms has near zero learning curve, and allows you to build the interface via drag and drop without have to write code in VBA, or write code in some markup language like HTML.
While such forms can be built in Access without code, the instant you need more than just a form, and need things like checking user input, or having some code do useful things with the data entry form is the VERY same instant you need to start writing procedural code for that form. And HTML is not a procedural programing language that can do much of anything with a web based data form. So not only is HTML without a web server of near zero limited use, you also not be able to add any code or business logic to that web form unless you choose some kind of programming language beyond HTML.
More info:
Edit:
If you don’t want to run a local web server and ONLY run the browser, then yes, you can most certainly write JavaScript code that creates an ActiveX object of Access, or even an ADO object.
This approach require you to setup the browser allowing it to create ActiveX objects. In general most browsers do NOT allow the web browser to create ActiveX objects unless you SIGNIFICANTLY lower the browser security settings.
So you can significantly lower the browser security settings and then write code say in JavaScript that creates and automates a copy of Access, then this is possible.
At the end of the day this ActiveX approach will STILL require you have a working copy of Access installed on that computer, or at the very least a copy of the ACE database engine for Access installed on that computer.
