Running IE6, IE7 and IE8 on the same pc (even on Vista)
For many web designers and developers, getting a website to look and function the same in different browsers can often be a challenge. This challenge is often made even more difficult when trying to achieve the same appearance across Microsofts hugely different versions of it’s Internet Explorer browser – none of the IE browsers have ever complied to web standards, and each different version comes with it’s own quirks to deal with. So you would think you could just install all the different versions and test your web pages in each of them…wrong, it’s often impossible to get all the different versions (namely IE6, IE7 and IE8) running on the same computer, especially if you are running Windows Vista which will not let you install IE6 at all.
For XP users, Tredsoft’s “Multi IE” (http://tredosoft.com/Multiple_IE) has been a godsend for a while now, although this solution still will not work on Windows Vista.
I stumbled accross something today, whilst searching for a solution to this Vista problem, and this solution will actually allow Vista users to preview web pages utilising a online rendering engine for IE5.5, IE6, IE7 and IE8beta2, all nicely packaged up into a single desktop application, which even allows you to view say a IE6 rendered page alongside a IE7 rendered version of the same page. This program is called “IE Tester” from www.my-debugbar.com, and it absolutely blew me away when as found it, as it does exactly what I need (viewing pages under different Internet Explorer rendering engines) IN WINDOWS VISTA!
If you are suffering the nightmare scenario of needing to test website pages in different versions of Internet Explorer, but cant install all the different versions you need onto the same PC, and especially if you are needing to do this in Windows Vista, then I recommend you give IE Tester a try – it works like a dream for me, and saves me having to run a seperate XP computer just for testing.
You can download MyDebugbar’s “IE Tester” from the following link: http://www.my-debugbar.com/wiki/IETester/HomePage
IE Tester Screenshot
October 25th, 2008 at 8:39 am
If you are under windows, the best solution is to use Virtual PC and packages.
You are able to run differents Windows (XP & Vista) with several Browser.
I have 4 Systems on my machine:
- XP: IE6 & FF2
- XP: IE8 & FF3
- Vista: IE7 & FF3
- XP x64: IE7 & FF3 Main OS
All systems are independents
So cool
October 25th, 2008 at 7:47 pm
Frederic: Virtual PC images is another solution that will work for the more technically minded, although for beginners it can be a little tricky or complicated to set up. Whereas IE Tester is a very easy and simple solution, that just involves installing a single desktop application. However, welcome to the blog.
October 26th, 2008 at 1:29 am
In case anybody is wondering, it is also possible to run old versions on IE on Mac OS X, and you can do it natively, without installing any virus like XP or Vista, check: http://www.kronenberg.org/ies4osx/
November 18th, 2008 at 1:12 am
IETester seems to be getting more bug filled these days, it barely works on my XP set up now so if you can load Multiple-IE it is by far the best and most complete way of testing designs.
February 8th, 2009 at 4:48 pm
Wow! what an idea ! What a concept ! Beautiful .. Amazing
August 12th, 2009 at 11:34 pm
This won’t allow developers to test JavaScript in different browsers though? Will it?
September 18th, 2009 at 1:53 am
IETester rulez!
So far I think IETester is the best tool to use for testing a website in multiple IE browser versions.
I always used Browsershots until I discovered IETester on this page, thanks for mentioning it!