Hi,

 

I'm a newbie at web design and I'm working on a Mac. I'm wondering how do you fellow web designers that are also working on a Mac preview your websites in Internet Explorer?

 

I'm previewing them in latest versions of Firefox and Safari, but since most of the people are using PCs (and IE), is installing Windows on my Mac the only solution?

 

Thanks!

Ben.

You can use:

BrowserShots

Boot Camp

VirtualBox (what I use)

Parallels

Crossover (not tried, but someone else might be able to confirm)

 

VirtualBox is a free software by Sun Microsystems. I had my XP CD so I used that with it, but you can get free virtual images from Microsoft. To use them on VirtualBox is a bit tricky but there's a decent guide here

Hi,

 

I'm a newbie at web design and I'm working on a Mac. I'm wondering how do you fellow web designers that are also working on a Mac preview your websites in Internet Explorer?

 

I'm previewing them in latest versions of Firefox and Safari, but since most of the people are using PCs (and IE), is installing Windows on my Mac the only solution?

 

Thanks!

Ben.

 

There's no usable substitute for the real thing I'm afraid. BrowserShots (etc) are okay but will offer no help whatsoever when actually fixing code issues, since you need to change code then check the fix there and then.

 

I personally use VMWare and run Virtual Machines for XP (IE6), Vista (IE7) and Windows 7 (IE8).

There's no usable substitute for the real thing I'm afraid. BrowserShots (etc) are okay but will offer no help whatsoever when actually fixing code issues, since you need to change code then check the fix there and then.

 

I personally use VMWare and run Virtual Machines for XP (IE6), Vista (IE7) and Windows 7 (IE8).

 

Why not just use one machine with XP? Install IE8 - the developer tool lets you render as IE7. Install MultipleIEs, which lets you have IE6 as well. In the end you have a single machine capable of testing all major IE versions.

Thanks for your help guys!

 

I wanna use just one machine, i.e. my Mac. So I guess the solution would be to install a program such as VirtualBox and then install Windows on it. Will I also need to install a web program in Windows to preview the web site I'm coding in Dreamweaver under Mac OS X?

 

Thanks again!

Ben.

Thanks for your help guys!

 

I wanna use just one machine, i.e. my Mac. So I guess the solution would be to install a program such as VirtualBox and then install Windows on it. Will I also need to install a web program in Windows to preview the web site I'm coding in Dreamweaver under Mac OS X?

 

Thanks again!

Ben.

 

I don't use Dreamweaver any more, but I'd imagine you won't be able to use preview; you'll need to save the file and load it in via the virtual machine.

 

As I work with PHP/MySQL almost exclusively, my sites are fed via a server (either web or local) so I just browse to them as I would in OSX.

You can install more than one version of IE using 'multiple-ie' there is also a standalone version of ie7 that you can run alongside ie8.

You can install more than one version of IE using 'multiple-ie' there is also a standalone version of ie7 that you can run alongside ie8.

 

I tried these a long time ago, but found that they didn't parse the logic code to selectively load browser-specific CSS files. Okay for trying things out but ultimately a bit rubbish.

I tried these a long time ago, but found that they didn't parse the logic code to selectively load browser-specific CSS files. Okay for trying things out but ultimately a bit rubbish.

 

The IE6 in multiple-IEs can detect any stylesheets specifically for IE6 using conditional comments just fine:

<!--[if lt IE 7]>

 

@benleb: I normally develop with a test FTP already setup, and normally test on Internet Explorer using that. Any OS that you install with VirtualBox has internet access (shares your main internet connection).

 

You can connect to your Mac localhost, if you're using XAMPP, MAMP etc by visiting:

http://10.0.2.2

in Internet Explorer

The IE6 in multiple-IEs can detect any stylesheets specifically for IE6 using conditional comments just fine:

<!--[if lt IE 7]>

.

 

They didn't when I tried (around 2 years ago I guess), if they do now, then that's one solution for sure.

 

Personally though I'd never feel 100% confident unless I'd tested on the real thing.

I use Adobe Browserlab on my Mac. Means not having to install a VM and instant screenshots .

I use Adobe Browserlab on my Mac. Means not having to install a VM and instant screenshots .

 

BrowserLab? This is really interesting

I use Adobe Browserlab on my Mac. Means not having to install a VM and instant screenshots .

 

But, how can you test things like drop-downs and other scripts?

But, how can you test things like drop-downs and other scripts?

 

You cannot, unfortunately. That's what I keep my PC knocking around for

But yeah, it is a limitation. A good solution for quick inconsistency checks nonetheless.