its because when u do it on ur files, it goes to the exact root of ur computer. on neocities ur root is what u see on the dashboard
Unless by "locally" you mean running your website on a local server, yeah this won't work because if you just open an html file it will look for the files relative to your pc's root directory. I run a copy of my website on localhost with Apache, so the "/..." paths work for me; you can try doing it as well
yea i started using a VSC extension called Live Server at the recommendation of someone on stackoverflow
forgot i had written that there i need to proofread more often