Jim Fanale Design - Web. Print. Style.

Ah yes, the wicked internet explorer. As web developers, we know that a site is only as good as its cross-browser capabilities. The number of people estimated to still be using some form of Internet Explorer are remarkable. Over 70% of people surfing the web today are using Internet Explorer, 30% of whom use the dreaded IE6.

Using valid XHTML and CSS, we can usually feel pretty comfortable with how a site it going to turn out on all browsers, but feeling comfortable is not enough. This is why we need to thoroughly test our sites in IE 6, 7, and 8. (And if you’re really a stickler, 5.5 as well. Sure, I’ve heard of NetRenderer. I’ve spent more time than I want to remember on BrowserShots. Applications like these allow you to insert your URL into their form, and they’ll return with a screen-shot of how your page looks in IE, or any number of other browsers. These are really cool apps, and usually provide you with some great insight, but they do have their problems. Biggest of which is the ability to test FUNCTIONALITY. A screen shot is great, but what about testing weather or not that javascript is cross-browser compatible?

Enter: Final Builds Site – Internet Explorer Collection! Now, before we get to far in to this little marvel, I will need to say that this is only helpful for those PC users. I work on macs, have for years now. Made the switch and have never looked back. I do, however, also have a PC sitting to my direct right. I use it only to test my websites these days. Problem being, I only have IE7, and can only run the one version of IE on my PC. Internet Explorer Collection allows you to download and intall EVERY VERSION OF IE…EVER and run them at the same time. They are all standalone programs so you can have IE 5.5, 6, 7, and 8 open an running at the same time.

I have only been using this collection for a couple of days now, but I will tell you, it certainly beats asking your girlfriend if you can borrow her work laptop so you can test a site on IE6. Thank you to the guys at Final Builds for putting this collection together, you’ve definitely made my life easier.