The web server firmware opens up a ton of possibilities with CGI scripting. When booting up in AP mode, you can even connect the ESP8266 to another access point right from the your browser.

Peter Lubbers makes an introduction to HTML5 Web Sockets explaining how they interact with proxy servers, and what proxy configuration or updates are needed for the Web Sockets traffic to go through.

Working with WebSockets in .Net When hosting your web sockets at the server side using .Net, you have a few choices. You can host a WebSocket server in traditional ASP.Net or ASP.Net MVC ...

Eldon’s server farm is currently serving web pages here, running on three ESP8266 boards. Or it was before this posting reduced it to a smoking ruin (screenshot below just in case).