Browser Pain – IE Testing
Microsoft has released some new software that will be of interest to fellow web designers and developers out there, a programme called SuperPreview.
It’s a standalone application (in beta at the moment) that enables you to see how your websites will look across different versions of Internet Explorer without having to set up a Virtual Machine to run IE6, or another computer dedicated to running IE6.
The Microsoft blog reads:
How many times have you had to debug your web pages on virtual or multiple machines running different versions of Internet Explorer? Or had to wait for a slow web service to return renderings of your pages?
I’m glad they asked because, funnily enough, rather a lot. I currently use a remote machine to test IE6 but this is a bit of a nuisance. SuperPreview seems like a good idea but I’d still prefer it if no one used IE6 any more.
There is a free version of SuperPreview that you can download from Microsoft.com with a paid version that can work with other browsers released soon with Microsoft Expression Web.
Update 19th March 09: Microsoft to Launch IE8 Gold Today
I’ve read a couple of articles saying that Microsoft will release IE8 today at noon EDT. Can’t say I’m mega excited about this, I’ve been running the beta and it’s an improvement on IE7 for sure, but I don’t think it’ll capture many users from IE6. Not sure how well it supports CSS3 selectors but I’ve tried the Acid 3 test on it and it just crashed out on me, it does pass the Acid 2 test at least.