Internet Explorer
I guess I speak for all designers when I say that Internet Explorer is the worst browser to design for. Each version has it’s own quirks and hacks. Even when you write standards-based code, it will always render differently in Internet Explorer (esp. earlier versions). I’ve completely given up on IE v. 5 and just test my layouts in IE v. 6 and above. I figure that if you are still using IE v. 5, you won’t be able to tell the difference between a broken layout if it hit you on the head anyway, so why bother?
As much as possible, I refrain from using any IE hacks on my CSS – except for the PNG fix. To see how your website renders on Internet Explorer’s earlier versions, here are a couple of tools to help you out:
- IE NetRenderer – Found at http://ipinfo.info/netrenderer. Just choose which version of IE you want to test for and enter the url of the website you are currently designing and it will return a snapshot of the site rendered according to the selected version. I find this a quick and very useful tool especially if I just want to see how other websites (those I didn’t create) render. It’s also useful for Mac users.
- IETester – this is actually a software package that you install on your PC and is my tool of choice for testing all my websites. I highly recommend using this tool instead of installing separate standalone versions of IE. Download the tool at http://www.my-debugbar.com/wiki/IETester/HomePage.
- Lastly, there’s the standalone versions of IE. If you prefer that, you may visit http://tredosoft.com/Multiple_IE where there is a compiled installation package with IE versions dating back to version 3.
