CODEWITHSUNDEEP
internet-explorerbrowser
user1565643
user1565643

Reputation: 35

Is there a difference between IE display on different Windows versions?

I am a web developer working on Mac. Despite my personal preference those site have to work on IE too. If not, it's certainly my fault and not that of Microsoft.

I used to use MultipleIE on Windows Vista. I now run Windows 7 under Parallels Desktop. I am about to install IE Collection.

My question is; are the various browsers independent of operating system, ie will a web page running on IE 7 under Windows Vista look the same as that running on IE 7 on Windows 7

The only IE's I'm interested in are 6, 7 and 8 (and 6 I tend to put clients off by telling them how much it will cost to debug on IE6).

IE 9 and 10 I am expecting to be more standards compliant. Is this right? (I know, two questions)

Upvotes: 0

Views: 530

Answers (2)

Olly Hodgson
Olly Hodgson

Reputation: 15775

In general, a given version of Internet Explorer renders the same across all of the Windows versions it's available on. There may be slight differences (e.g. text rendering might be slightly different due different versions of Windows ClearType/DirectWrite) but nothing too significant.

IE9 and IE10 are much more standards-compliant than older versions, but still have their quirks, so it's essential to test there, too. Additionally, I've seen reports of minor differences between IE10 on Windows 7 and IE10 on Windows 8.

By the way, Microsoft offer free Virtual Machines pre-installed with older versions of IE: http://www.modern.ie/en-US/virtualization-tools#downloads

Upvotes: 1

rgdigi
rgdigi

Reputation: 1747

I find the best method is to run windows in bootcamp on the mac, and install IE9 (IE10 if possible). In the IE developer console (press f12) you can change the browser mode, which renders the pages with an accurate implementation of each browsers version of trident. Note that you can't test for IE6 - it's not included - but with IE6's market share at something like 0.05% it shouldn't be an issue.

Upvotes: 0

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