Site to test pages on IE

[jcarter]

My classmates need a site that you can test your pages on IE, because we dont have IE for Mac any more.
I can go over to my dentist's office, but that is a pain.

I think I remember somewhere here a while ago, there was reference to a site that could do this for us?
But I cant remember it, nor can my classmates.  The ones I got with Google, arent the same ones that we used before.
Thanks,
Jane

[ClayEM]

QUOTE(jcarter @ May 18 2008, 11:37 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

My classmates need a site that you can test your pages on IE, because we dont have IE for Mac any more.
I can go over to my dentist's office, but that is a pain.
Jane

IE 5.2.3 still is available for Macs.
You can get git here: http://mac.softpedia.com/get/Internet-Util...-Explorer.shtml

Clay

[jcarter]

Thank you!
I will pass the link right on to my classmates. I have it, but it always crashed, but tried it this morning and it worked OK.
Jane

[Mayo]

Browsershots

[swhitset]

If you are running an Intel Mac, I would seriously consider Parallels along with an installation of Windows XP.  Running the current version of IE in Windows is really the only way you are going to get an accurate test.

Steve

[jcarter]

I havent got an Intel Mac, yet, but this old IE works OK for me now. My classmates who need the IE, from what I gather, dont have the Intel ones yet either.
My husband and brother do, but they arent receptive to me running any Windows stuff on their machines. So I am OK for now.
Jane

[Mrious_be]

Nononoooooo people..
No need to do anything else than installing the latest Safari on your system!
Install Safari 3.1.1 and activate the "Develop" menu (to be activated in the Preferences/Advanced tab).
Now, open the page you want to test in IE.xx and select the "Develop" menu, then go to "User Agent" and select "Internet Explorer 5.x.x Mac" (or any other browser architecture for that matters).
There you go, Safari now acts like Internet Explorer

It works.
I once had to use a website from work.
That website is growing in age now and all modern browsers screw the site up completely (which is probably the reason that we still use an older Explorer version at work... on windows).
By changing the browsers behavior to Explorer the website showed as "it should be"

Worth giving a go Jane.

[swhitset]

Sorry but that does not help you in this case.  Changing the user agent only tells the webserver what browser you are using.  It does NOT change the manner in which your browser renders the page.   Occasionally, a web developer will limit access to a page to certain browsers such as IE for no good technical reason.  Changing your user agent will allow you access to this page.  However, more frequently access is denied because the page uses Microsoft specific active X controls that cannot be used on the Mac. Changing the user agent will not help you here because your browser and your operating system simply do not have the capabilities to decode the page.

None of this is really the point here though, The original question dealt with finding a way to test a page in IE on a Mac.  Changing your User Agent does not accomplish this.  While using IE 5.xx is a start, I have to emphasize the fact that it is so outdated that I really question the validity of any test done using it.  If you don't want to, or can't run Windows on your mac, I would suggest getting access to a cheap PC.

Steve

[jcarter]

Back to the dentists office,,,,,,
I donated my old PC to the highschool.
So I guess I could get a cheap one, but Im running out of space in here. But I really dont care that much, as my pages are pretty plain. But my classmates, this particular one, is a whiz at making pages and she needs IE.
I will just hang out with my old outdated IE for the time being,

BUT, isnt this a great excuse to buy a lovely new Intel Mac with a monster screen?!!!!!?
Hey, what an idea, my husband asked me the same thing this morning.
Here I am again, do I want or do I need,,,want want want!
Thanks,
Jane

[swhitset]

Yeah... I have gone completely Intel for quite some time now.  I have an original Macbook Pro and a newer aluminum iMac.  I hardly ever run Windows, but I do have Parallels and Windows XP for the rare occasion where it becomes needed.  Windows runs beautifully as long as you have at least 2GB of Ram.

Steve

[Xairbusdriver]

Steve is correct about the usefulness of changing a browsers 'user agent.' It is not going to help you.

However, to throw another wrench into the monkey works, what version of IE does your instructor want your site(s) tested with? IE on the Mac was better at standards compliance than its equivalent on a PC. But now that there are several newer version of it for PCs you still need to know which one is needed. Every new version does things slightly differently in different areas. Just because your site is 'perfect' on one version doesn't mean it will be so on another!

That's why there are sites like the one Mayo mentioned. For a fee, they will make screen shots of your home page on several different browsers, and not just IE. For additional fees, they will do the same for additional pages. Some sites will do a single page for a sometimes smaller number of browsers for free. Try Googling 'website testing sites' and get a list.

Ask your instructor what the 'standard' is to be used for whether a site displays 'correctly' or not. You may even want to suggest that all pages should pass as valid on both the <W3C> and the <WDG> validater sites. There are also site that will check/validate your CSS.

[jcarter]

This is all coming up in the next class, validation and so forth.  I am not sure yet what version of IE they want to be checked on.
I have checked my old pages and they are OK, but we are getting into more complex stuff now.
Ive found that most browsers do a pretty good job of it nowadays.  And I guess the DW makes the code pretty good for them all too.
But thats upcoming, will be interesting.
Thanks,
Jane

[Mayo]

Browsershots is a free service if you don't mind waiting for the results... If you want the results sooner then there is a nominal fee for priority processing.

[Paddy]

Jane, I'd be very surprised if your instructor was at all interested in having you test your sites on IE 5.2 for Mac - it's years out of date and rarely used anymore. It's a bit like testing sites on Netscape 4.x - interesting to see how the CSS tends to fall apart, but that's about it.

What he/she is no doubt looking for is testing on IE 6 and 7 - for Windows. And if you really want to to have even more fun, there's always IE 8 beta: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/...e8/default.mspx

(I don't think that shows up at Browsershots though! )

On your Mac, browsershots.org, as I pointed out in the Smalldog thread and Mayo has pointed out here, is your best bet. Free, not too slow if you just check one or two browsers at a time and it doesn't take up any real estate! Otherwise, it's either an Intel Mac with Parallels or Bootcamp...or a cheap PC. I used to have a cheap PC (a used HP running XP Pro) for testing purposes until I got my MacBook Pro. Depends on your available space and available budget - or how serious you want to be about the testing. BTW - the used PC route is definitely cheaper - you can get XP Pro capable PCs on eBay for $100-150 or so. Remember - it doesn't have to be anything special, it just has to run the most recent versions of IE.

[jcarter]

I like the browsershots, they probably will be what I shall use, as you say, free.  I dont need to do this very often.  But am thinking of a new MacTel at some point, it is space that is my limitation. I should post a .jpg of my computer sty, whoops that should read room not pig sty.

If I could get a PC that somehow I could hook into one of these iMac monitors, it would be good, but I think thats impossible.
Jane

Oh, neat banner!  Is that a capibara or just a large squirrel that eats your bird food?  Big enough to eat!   Lets see our puppy chase that thing!