Welcome!

[justin.lancaster]

I'm curious how everyone tests their sites in different browsers?

I work on macs, I don't own a PC. However, I've been doing a lot more web design lately and I feel like i should have one around for testing purposes.

At first I thought I would use Boot Camp. But, when I asked my friend who's an apple tech, he told me to steer clear of the Boot Camp route. I trust his advice so I'm not going to mess with that.

He recommended VMware Fusion. Anyone have any experience with this prodcut?

I understand it costs around $80 plus you need to buy a windows license.

I'm wondering if its worth just spending the $ on a new laptop that comes with vista or just go the VMware route.

Also, I've heard you can only run 1 version of IE per operating system... Is this still the case?

How does everyone else test their designs in other browsers?

[ibernat]

You can try Litmus, a very very nice app for just that.

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http://litmusapp.com/

A freeware version that does the same thing

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http://browsershots.org/

[jm.toball]

I'm running IE 5.5 and 6 via Wine on my Debian Linux System where I also run Firefox, Opera and a bunch of exotic Linux browsers.
For Safari, Chrome, IE 7 and IE 8 I got a virtual machine running via Virtualbox (a VM-Alternative) that I also use for Photoshop, Flash and all the other Windows Tools not playing nicely with Wine that I still don't want to miss.

Also, I've heard you can only run 1 version of IE per operating system... Is this still the case??

When I was still using Windows I had IE 5.5, 6 and 7 running next to each other using this

[Parallax]

I write the code for something strict like Opera, this eliminates many errors before I see them.

I work from a PC, so I have the following installed and test every line of code in them: IE6, IE7, IE8Beta, Firefox3, Opera 10, PCSafari3, Konqueror, Google Chrome and even Blackbird.

My department is mixed, so I also review pages on someone's Mac (Safari and Firefox) before handing off any front-end code. Likewise, if they write any presentation-layer code, I help them test it.

After it goes to development for a while, it lands on a testing/integration server, our QA department crawls over the interface and functionality, comparing it to the mockups and definition of expected behavior.

And after all that, there are still some errors that we miss. I fixed one yesterday that took 23 steps to reproduce. I am fairly certain that the person who found that is a cyborg.

[haRacz]

If u want multiple IEs try http://www.my-debugbar.com/wiki/IETester/HomePage

[Juul Coolen]

I would definitely recommend the VMware Fusion route. It is true you can only have a single version of IE installed at a time (or you have to rely on nasty workarounds). But with the use of 'snapshots' in VMware or multiple VMs, you can have all the tools you need.

It seems like a lot of trouble to go through, but I can't think of any other option that is as reliable and flexible.

[hayley]

http://browsershots.org

And then hope for the best until someone sends me a bug report.

[justin.lancaster]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions!

You can try Litmus, a very very nice app for just that.

Code: Select all

http://litmusapp.com/

A freeware version that does the same thing

Code: Select all

http://browsershots.org/

I use browsershots.org. Screenshots are good, but they lack the interactive element. For usability testing I really want to know how the site functions on different browsers.

I just signed up for a free litmus acct. I love the site design and UI! So much nicer than browsershots.org. However, The free account doesn't help me too much, IE7 and FF2 have pretty good standards support.

I write the code for something strict like Opera, this eliminates many errors before I see them.

I work from a PC, so I have the following installed and test every line of code in them: IE6, IE7, IE8Beta, Firefox3, Opera 10, PCSafari3, Konqueror, Google Chrome and even Blackbird.

Me too. I code for Firefox and Safari using web standards so that eliminates a lot of potential problems. But it's IE 5.5 and 6 that are the real pain in my butt. IE6 mainly... Roughly 40% of the traffic to one of my sites still uses IE6.

Do you have a problem with your pc running all those versions of IE on one operating system? Do you use an application like some others suggested to achieve this?

I would definitely recommend the VMware Fusion route. It is true you can only have a single version of IE installed at a time (or you have to rely on nasty workarounds). But with the use of 'snapshots' in VMware or multiple VMs, you can have all the tools you need.

It seems like a lot of trouble to go through, but I can't think of any other option that is as reliable and flexible.

Does VMware only give you screenshots or can you actually install and use IE(version of your choice) on your mac with it?

[Ryan Williams]

I wouldn't ever rely on screenshots. Too many problems can arise that are difficult or impossible to see properly in them, particularly if you're building complex web applications or anything that makes significant use of JavaScript.

Based on a Vista PC, I fully test with the latest (sub-)version of the following:

1. Chrome
2. Firefox 2
3. Firefox 3
4. Internet Explorer 6
5. Internet Explorer 7
6. Internet Explorer 8
7. Safari
8. Opera

I was quite surprised to find through testing that results between Firefox 2 and Firefox 3 can vary quite significantly at times. Reassuringly though, IE8 results are much more in line with what its peers output.

As recommended above, I too use IETester for pre-IE8 testing. It's without a doubt the best multi-IE testing software available, allowing you to run each browser instance in a tab. Unlike past solutions such as MultipleIE, it has no real flaws — it reads conditional statements properly, uses IE6's proper JavaScript engine, etc.

[Juul Coolen]

Justin, VMware Fusion lets you virtually run a copy of Windows on the Mac OS. It is displayed like any ordinary application within a window. So you can still have all your Mac apps next to it and switch between them. This is the big advantage over Bootcamp which only lets you run Windows and that's it, you need to shut down Windows first before being able to log into Mac again.

Visually VMware lets you operate Windows like any native PC. Maybe you want to have a look at http://www.vmware.com/ for more information.

[Parallax]

@ justin.lancaster

Yes, it's not ideal to have them all installed concurrently. The hackware to do this is all pretty wonky. I've recently cleaned all that off my system and consigned myself to walk the 10 feet to our testing lab every so often. Oh, the huge manatee!

[EvoDy]

look up crossover for mac. I use it and swear by it. no VM necessary.

[suciuvlad]

I have a PC with windows 7 beta.To test websites in IE 6 i have installed Microsoft Virtual PC with windows XP in it.

[TT_Mark]

I have a MacBook running VM Fusion, but I'm struggling on only 2Gb RAM and will need to upgrade to get a decent running speed. I run IE Tester on my Windows boot, and Firefox, Safari and Opera on my Mac

[ibernat]

Based on a Vista PC, I fully test with the latest (sub-)version of the following:

1. Chrome
2. Firefox 2
3. Firefox 3
4. Internet Explorer 6
5. Internet Explorer 7
6. Internet Explorer 8
7. Safari
8. Opera

This is actually the way I do my testing. I develop everything using FF3, then test it in other browsers. 99.9% of the time Safari/Chrome display the exact same result. 98% of the time IE behaves like it should.