Testing website - Internet Explorer

Testing your site on different versions of Internet Explorer (IE6 in particular)

Last updated on December 15, 2009. Tags: cross browser compatibility, IE6

Internet Explorer 6 (IE6) come in bundle with Windows XP installers. You can upgrade your browser anytime to IE7 or IE8 provided that your Windows XP is a legitimate copy but you cannot have IE6, IE7 and IE8 at the same time. Once you installed a more recent version, you can no longer revert back to the older version (except if you hack some of the core Windows files, which I will not discuss in this article).

This can be problematic to web developers and designers who would like to make their websites compatible to IE6 as well as to Firefox, Safari and Chrome. While Firefox, Safari and Chrome tend to render websites in almost the same manner, IE6 renders them in a very different manner. IE7 and IE8 render websites in a way that is close to the aforementioned non-IE browsers but IE6 is really a pain for web developers/designers.

A web developer with the latest version of IE will spend some time encoding HTML and CSS, creating graphics integral to the design, test it to his/her version of IE as well as in Firefox, Safari and Chrome and do some adjustment to make them render in the same manner in these browsers. S/he tought all his/her work is done. Submitted the site to the client, and the client saw a really ugly website with distorted layout.

The reason: the client is using IE6 and never thought of upgrading it.

The poor web developer cannot test the site to IE6 even if s/he wants to. S/he already upgraded to a more recent version of IE and there's no way for him/her to reset it back. The client didn't upgrade because the web based application that his/her employees use were made with IE6 in mind.

Until recently, I'm using two computers just to test a website for IE6. My laptop has IE7, Firefox, Safari and Chrome. To test websites in IE6, I have to use my brother's computer (he doesn't want it upgraded). Just few months ago, I found this software called IETester that allow web developers and designers to see how websites render in IE5.5, IE6, IE7 and IE8. You can find and download it here:

IETester Homepage.

This is how it looks like.

The website of Digital Concoction as seen in IETester

IETester operates as an independent browser. You need to download the installer and install it in your computer before you can use it. However it renders website in the same manner as IE 5.5, IE 6, IE7 and IE8. It has tabs like Firefox and IE7, and these tabs can be different versions of Internet Explorer. You can check how the website renders in IE6 using one tab, and check how it appears in IE8 using another tab.

The number of users of IE6 continues to dwindle (12.1% as of September 2009) and will continue to do so in the next few months. I believe this will be further hasten by the withdrawal of major websites like Youtube and Facebook. There's even a movement encouraging web developers and designers to withdraw support from IE6 by serving visitors a popup that encourages them to upgrade or use a non-IE browser.

However, dwindling statistics and activism should not be our basis on whether we should withdraw support to IE or not. More importantly, our considerations should be for the demographics of our visitors. For example, I know that the usual visitors of Codeleet are novice and expert web designers, codes and other techie people who wouldn't think twice on upgrading browsers and obtaining the lastest hardware. Hence, I am considering withdrawing support to IE6 in my next revision of this site (but I'm still undecided when it would be).

On the other hand, my other websites Digital Concoction and Philippine Real Estate Facts and Review (PREFR) have visitors from several different backgrounds. Many of these people are mature business executives who are busy, have lots of money and wouldn't give time to some technobabble about upgrading browsers. These are the kind of people who can decide whether or not they want me to build their website (or acquire a new home in case of PREFR). I don't think it's a good idea to withdraw support to IE6 and lose these people to my competitors in the process.

I want IE6 to disappear forever and that would make my job easier. However, it is also important to give consideration to your visitors, clients and potential clients. IE6 will die soon but there's no need to rush it. IETester certainly made my job easier as I don't have to move from one computer to another just to test websites for IE6.

Posted by Greten on October 31, 2009 under Webmasters' Tools

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