Repl.co blocked by school filters

Background to Question:
I teach Web development in a public high school and our district filter blocks repl.co (but not the editing tool) because - according to the district - the way Replit publishes user code relies on an anonymous proxy and that could circumvent our content filters. As a result, my students cannot get visual feedback on their code any more and it is making Replit harder to use for education.

Question:
How can my students render their HTML/CSS while remaining compliant with school filters blacklisting anonymous proxies?

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Welcome to Ask! You could try using firewalledreplit.com. That is designed for schools and has Replit community features turned off.
https://docs.replit.com/getting-started/firewalled-replit

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That’s an interesting response from your district. Replit was blocked by my school as well – but then I just asked them to unblock it so that we can use it since these middle schoolers are not going to be able to save it to their own computers very efficiently. They agreed, and it was done within 10 minutes.

Of course, this doesn’t solve your issue. I wonder, too, if the above link allows you to still have proper access to their work. Let me know, as it might be a route I go if the school puts the hammer down on it lol

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And to also prevent proxies from functioning (since repls won’t have internet except for required and well-known code assets or resources)

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Most of the site remains unblocked - students can still edit using Replit and I can still see their work and grade things - but repl.co, the part of Replit that renders their Web pages in the browser, is blocked.

I’m going to look into using firewalledreplit and see how that works…

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Thanks for the tip! I’ll try it with students today to see if they can still see their stuff. I am a little concerned that Internet-based resources (e.g., Google fonts and icons) will not work, but hopefully we can get everything else to show up for the students. Instant feedback is a game-changer when first learning how to code!

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@MichaelSulliva4 firewalledreplit.com is basically Replit, but without any community, so your student can’t access the coments etc.
Proxy restrictions are tighter, and it will be blocked more easily when a proxy is made (security is tighter).

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It sounds like a good solution to my problem, but I’m a little concerned that external assets like fonts and icons would be blocked. Those are pretty minor, though, so I could live with it.

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Replit is getting blocked by my school next week, they report that “some members of the Replit community have posted projects as virtual OSs or browsers with the sole purpose of avoiding filtering. Our filtering efforts are focused on blocking objectionable content to remain in compliance with federal guidelines. One of many examples can be found at replit.com/@GAELSANTOS/Unblocked-Browser.”

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@AMYBAKALETZ just use firewalledreplit.com as has been suggested in this topic. That will have tighter security including no community features (meaning students can’t access other people’s projects, including unblockers).
https://docs.replit.com/getting-started/firewalled-replit

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