CODEWITHSUNDEEP
internet-explorertestingcross-browser
Dónal
Dónal

Reputation: 187499

Internet Explorer 6 testing

Is there any way to test a website in Internet Explorer 6 on a computer that already has Firefox and Internet Explorer7 installed, without either:

Duplicate

Upvotes: 15

Views: 13383

Answers (14)

jrsconfitto
jrsconfitto

Reputation: 1134

For future inquisitors, (which are hopefully a dying breed), modern.IE is the best resource i've found for testing across older Internet Explorers. It's run by Microsoft and provides different images for different virtualization environments.

Upvotes: 4

idrinkpabst
idrinkpabst

Reputation: 1838

Take a look at BrowserStack. It's a 3rd party service with live, web-based browser testing.

Upvotes: 0

Bravax
Bravax

Reputation: 10483

Could this solve your problem:

Microsoft Expression Web SuperPreview for Windows Internet Explorer

Upvotes: 11

kennebec
kennebec

Reputation: 104760

You ought to have an old crappy PC to test on. It's easy to make code work on a modern, well set up machine, but you may have users less fortunate. And outdated PCs are cheap or free, if you don't have any of your own laying around somewhere.

Upvotes: 0

Chuck Hriczko
Chuck Hriczko

Reputation:

I had the same problem. A VM would work, but it slows my 1 GB laptop down to a crawl. So I ended up having to upgrade to 2 GB memory and install Linux. I enjoy this A LOT better. But since that is not an option here is what I came across.

  1. VirtualBox - Personally I like this one. If you have a Windows XP disc lying around this option is great. Especially if you have virtualization options on your processor.

  2. SuperPreview - Though I don't like this one it is an option. I had Windows 7 installed because it ran better than Vista and XP but it gave me Internet Explorer 8. I tried this, and it only let me preview Internet Explorer 8. Maybe it was too early a beta or because I had a beta OS. Either way, I dont like this one just yet.

  3. IETester - By far a great great program. Works perfectly in XP and Vista. Internet Explorer 6 and 7 don't work right with it in Windows 7. But if you have Vista this is the way to go. Multiple Internet Explorers don't work right under Vista but this does.

  4. MultipleIEs - As stated above, this does not work in Vista, but it is an option for any Windows XP user out there. There have been known issues with this causing your OS to actually become more unstable, but I don't know for a fact if that's true. I just heard some reports about it.

  5. Internet Explorer 7 Standalone - Though not applicable for this question others may find it useful to know that there is a standalone Internet Explorer 7. On my VM I have Internet Explorer 6 installed by default and Internet Explorer 7 as standalone. I would not recommend this as standalone Internet Explorer 7 is not perfect. MUltipleIEs + genuine Internet Explorer 7 or IETester is much better option.

  6. BrowserShots.com - Browser shots is a great tool but somewhat limited. Basically it takes a screenshot on literally hundreds of browsers and lets you view them. The thing is it is mighty slow, and you don't get a full screen preview.Not a great option.

  7. Meer Meer - I heard about something from Adobe Labs called Meer Meer a while back, but I was never able to actually find it. I believe meermeer.com actually takes you to Adobe Labs' website too. But it looks like a great tool complete with Onion Skin Overlay and the works. Like Super Preview but on the web instead of local. If it is released, definitely would check this one out.

Overall, I say IETester is a great bet. Anyone running Windows 7 however is left in the cold. I tried every option out there and none of them worked for me except for Linux host and VirtualBox XP guest. That's my 2.5 cents, though.

Upvotes: 5

Aaron Daniels
Aaron Daniels

Reputation: 9664

Microsoft has published free Virtual PC images for Internet Explorer compatibility testing. You can find it here.

Upvotes: 7

JohnFx
JohnFx

Reputation: 34909

Although you specifically said you didn't want to use VMWare, have you consider VMWare ThinAPP?

It effectively lets you build an EXE that lets you run IE6 and IE7 concurrently on the same computer without incurring the performance cost of running an entire virtual machine. It is a little pricey ($6K), buy you only need a license for the machine you build the virtualized version of IE on.

Upvotes: 0

Keith_CE
Keith_CE

Reputation: 23

If you can find an IE 6 Setup executable then you could use the wonderfully handy application called 'Altris Software Virtualization Solution' SVS.21.Personal.zip

Basically it allows you to create layers that can be enabled or disabled. It can create a layer by capturing changes made by an installation executable.

Upvotes: 0

Samuel
Samuel

Reputation: 38346

Download Microsoft VirtualPC. Then download any of the files in Internet Explorer Application Compatibility VPC Image. The second download contains four VHD (virtual hard drive) files which have:

  • XP SP2
    • IE 7
  • XP SP3
    • IE 6, IE 8 Beta 2
  • Vista SP1
    • IE 7

My answer from duplicate question

Upvotes: 7

Gulzar Nazim
Gulzar Nazim

Reputation: 52178

Try out SuperPreview or the whole package (Expression Web announced at Mix) if you can..

SuperPreview is a new free standalone application from Microsoft (still in beta) which enables you to see how your websites will look across different versions of Internet Explorer making migration from IE6 to 7 and 8 much easier than before, without have to start up a Virtual Machine to run IE6, or have a separate computer dedicated to running IE6.

Upvotes: 3

MatthieuGD
MatthieuGD

Reputation: 4592

if it's for testing the rendering you can use Microsoft Expression Web SuperPreview :link text

Upvotes: 0

John Sheehan
John Sheehan

Reputation: 78104

Try the Xenocode Web Apps. They're virtualized, but not full-blown VMs.

Virtual PC 2007 is free from MS and isn't VM-Ware. Not sure if your requirement is no VMs or no VM-Ware. The MS provided testing virtual machines work well.

From what I've heard, any of the 3rd party multiple IE testers all have compatibility issues where they're not 100% accurate to the original browser versions.

Upvotes: 2

cherouvim
cherouvim

Reputation: 31903

Solutions that will allow IE6 and IE7 together may not give you a real vanilla IE6 so it may not be what you should be looking for. I use http://www.virtualbox.org/ which is lighter than VM-ware.

Upvotes: 0

Chad Birch
Chad Birch

Reputation: 74518

I usually see IETester recommended, though I don't have any experience with it personally (I run linux and use VirtualBox for this).

Upvotes: 4

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