1. A computer-implemented data access method, comprising: executing a file manager application in a container application on a computer, wherein the file manager application is written in a scripting language that, due to security restrictions placed on the file manager application by the container application, prohibits direct access to a file system on the computer and wherein the file manager application comprises a web page that simulates a file system dialog box and the container application comprises a commercially-available web browser; generating a user interface associated with the file manager application; executing a conduit application on the computer to directly access the computer file system, wherein the conduit application is written in a programming language that allows direct access to the computer file system and is written in a programming language that is different from the scripting language; communicating between the file manager application and the conduit application, and communicating directly between the conduit application and the computer file system to simulate direct file system access by the file manager application; generating, by both the file manager and the conduit application, code that modifies a Document Object Model (DOM) associated with the user interfaces; receiving a selection of a directory icon associated with the user interface, wherein the directory icon corresponds to a directory contained in the computer file system; communicating a first identifier for the directory from the file manager application to the conduit application; determining with the conduit application a second identifier for the directory corresponding to the first identifier and passing the second identifier to the file system along with a request for a list of one or more subdirectories under the directory; in response to the request for the list, receiving at the conduit application first identifiers for the list of one or more subdirectories sent by the computer file system; determining with the conduit application second identifiers for the list of one or more subdirectories; passing the second identifiers to the file manager application; displaying, with the file manager application, icons associated with the list of one or more subdirectories under the directory icon; and changing the directory icon from a closed status to an open status.