Despite flaws, IEtester does, in fact, test websites in many versions of IE all at once
09/11/2008
Jrnl/Software
As much as IEtester has already proven indispensable, it is not 100% win just yet. However, if you have a Windows box or virtual machine with IE7 or higher, and you want your websites to support Windows IE versions 6, 7 and 8, I recommend you try it out.
In the “win” column:
- Yes, it really does let you see what your website looks like in Windows IE, versions 5.5 through the latest 8.0 beta.
- Uses tabs. In fact, it lets you have different versions of IE running at the same time in different tabs.
- You choose which browser version a tab has when you open it.
In the “lose” column:
Doesn’t run in VMware. Haven’t tried it in Parallels yet, but I’m guessing Mac Users will need either a Windows box, or Bootcamp.Never mind. I think I ran it in my IE6 VMware environment, which was dumb, because the website clearly says IEtester doesn’t work on computers with IE6. It works fine in a VMware environment where IE7 is installed.
- Uses the controversial ribbon interface from Office 2007, even though it has a fraction of the commands that make the ribbon useful. It just eats up screen real estate.
- Still in alpha, so not everything is there. The program’s homepage warns that Flash doesn’t work in its IE6 renderer.