Web design for IE on a Mac

[Huze]

I'm thinking about purchasing a Mac, but I recently learned that you cannot run IE6 on it. As a web designer, how would I be able to confirm that the webpages I design are being displayed properly on IE6 using a Mac?

I know that VirtualPC is possibility, but I was hoping for something more native.

 

[grapes911]

Virtual PC (or another emulator) or nothing. I hear that MS has no plans to update IE5 for Mac anytime soon. I use IE5 to view my .aspx pages. Works reasonable well.

 

[ChicoWeb]

browsercam.com

 

[Doozy]

Browsercam.com looks pretty cool, I will have to look into that further.

We broke down and bought a Dell inspiron 6000 and use that to test or designs, we also needed it for using webex.com which was unreliable on the mac. That Dell is so slow virtual pc on my G5 is faster.

Anyway, it is important that you test your designs for windows compliance. Good luck.

 

[Stampyhead]

Yep, I also have a cheap PC that I use for cross platform browser testing. There are a lot of good deals out there right now, you could probably even pick one up for close to the price of buying Virtual PC. Used is even cheaper...

 

[mfacey]

If you're an avid webdesigner you probably don't use it, but Dreamweaver has the ability to test your webpage in a number browser environments afaik. I'm pretty sure it will do IE 6 too, but I'd have to check. I'm too lazy right now

 

[radiantm3]

If you're an avid webdesigner you probably don't use it, but Dreamweaver has the ability to test your webpage in a number browser environments afaik. I'm pretty sure it will do IE 6 too, but I'd have to check. I'm too lazy right now

It only checks for code errors. I don't think it checks for IE bugs that cause visual interface problems.

 

[mfacey]

It only checks for code errors. I don't think it checks for IE bugs that cause visual interface problems.

Ah, that may well be true. Still to lazy to check!

 

[Bern]

I use VPC 7 with Windows XP for this very purpose and it's no slouch. I'm sure it's slow with other apps, but if you're just firing up IE6 (even MSN Messenger runs well) VPC does a very good job.

BrowserCam doesn't give you instant feedback as you will have to wait for someone to actually take the screen shot for you and send it back. I know they say in a minute, but I recall I waited a couple of hours in some instances.

 

[Cactii]

Re:

I use VP7 with Windows 2000. As for the MAC version of IE. I don't even care anymore. Do people still use this browser?
Most of the time I code for Firefox and Safari.

 

[grapes911]

Most of the time I code for Firefox and Safari.

Then you are just as bad as those who only code for IE.

 

[plinden]

Then you are just as bad as those who only code for IE.

Not really. If you write for Safari, Firefox (and Opera of course) your webpage will be standards compliant. As far as I'm aware, only some esoteric CSS2 and PNG stuff doesn't work right on IE.

 

[kgarner]

Not really. If you write for Safari, Firefox (and Opera of course) your webpage will be standards compliant. As far as I'm aware, only some esoteric CSS2 and PNG stuff doesn't work right on IE.

Not exactly esoteric CSS2 stuff. There is still quite a bit of basic functionality that is missing. But even worse is the large number of bugs that require hacks. Simple things that they should have fixed but never have like float issues and such.

That said, if you code for Firefox or Safari you will have it 90% of the way there and you can then test in IE and see what bits need fixing from their. I never code for IE until I get it working right in Safri and Firefox first, then I try to hack it for IE.

 

[Sic]

unless you're doing really complicated CSS, you don't really need to hack IE. you could always select different stylesheets depending on browser, then you wouldnt need to hack it.

most of the time i've found i've been able to get it pretty close with no hax