Webmasters never know what they are up to when testing websites in various versions of Internet Explorer. It might look fine in Internet Explorer 6 but Internet Explorer 8 might break it. It is therefor of uttermost importance to test a website in different versions of Internet Explorer before releasing it to the public.
The problem begins when the webmaster realizes that Microsoft has made it virtually impossible to install and use different versions of Internet Explorer on the same computer system. Unlike Firefox or Opera where it is possible to install different versions separately that option has been neglected in Internet Explorer.
A first step in the right direction was the IETester tool which emulated various Internet Explorer versions in one interface making it possible to view websites with different Internet Explorer versions.
The next step however is the Internet Explorer Collection. The collection comes with several Internet Explorer versions from Internet Explorer 1 to Internet Explorer 8 in one installation package. It does include the highly popular Internet Explorer 6 and Internet Explorer 7.
- Internet Explorer 1.0 (4.40.308)
- Internet Explorer 1.5 (0.1.0.10)
- Internet Explorer 2.01 (2.01.046)
- Internet Explorer 3.0 (3.0.1152)
- Internet Explorer 3.01 (3.01.2723)
- Internet Explorer 3.03 (3.03.2925)
- Internet Explorer 4.01 (4.72.3110.0)
- Internet Explorer 5.01 (5.00.3314.2100)
- Internet Explorer 5.5 (5.51.4807.2300)
- Internet Explorer 6.0 (6.00.2800.1106)
- Internet Explorer 6.0 (6.00.2900.2180)
- Internet Explorer 7.0 (7.00.5730.13)
- Internet Explorer 8.0 (8.00.6001.18702)
The best part is that you can pick the Internet Explorer versions that you want and install them on your system separately which in turn means that it is possible to test a website in each version of Internet Explorer independently.
After downloading Internet Explorer Collection the user is presented with several check boxes during installation which when selected install the specific version of Internet Explorer.
It does not make much sense to install the early versions, at least when website testing is the main consideration for installing the different versions. It could be nice for a nostalgic trip however or just for fun to see how fast (or not) those old versions were.
Each version of Internet Explorer that has been installed on the system because accessible through the Windows Start Menu. A click on the Internet Explorer icon will launch that version, it is even possible to launch and run several versions of Internet Explorer simultaneously.
The developer of Internet Explorer Collection is shy on words because there is virtually no information on his website about the technique that he uses to run the Internet Explorer versions on the same computer system.
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heej cool tool. I use IETester now but however it works it’s not really how I wish it to be, so if this one is better. IEtester goes to the dustbin.
it cracks me up that he included this warning for those downloading this collection:
Warning: Never use Internet Explorer as primary browser.
The whole installer is under 45MB? Wow. I’m downloading it now to see if I can run it in Wine. Thanks.
i dl-ed it just to be able to check 8 without overwriting 7 and 8 installed and ran but it’s very weirdly corrupted. the ui is all messed up.
I tried this and it seemed to mostly work, UNTIL I tried to expand a combobox.
Then it came up with the pop-up blocker message.
That’s pretty weird for two reasons…
1. The pop-up blocker was switched off.
2. A combo box is not really a pop-up (okay it sort of is, but shouldn’t be treated as one).
Anyone else experience this?
I’m going to uninstall all versions of IE, and then reinstall the collection. Fingers crossed!
can any one plz giv me link to download this tool
I think ie is difficult to install on linux. iecolletion give some errors installing with wine
couldnt c the download link on this page !
so found one on GOOGLE !!
here it is
http://utilu.com/IECollection/
There is no link to the download or developer in the article. I went to the finalbuilds link posted by Nish, and still can’t find any download link on that page. Can someone please post the download link? Thanks!
i think that download page have viruses :)
Correct way to run multipe versions of IE would be to use VPC Images. More here:
http://it.expertmonster.com/question/Running-multiple-versions-of-Internet-Explorer-sim-136.html
This is the exactly what I was looking for… Where is the download link ?
You need to click on however in the middle of the article.
Thanks @ Martin ***hides face*** Now ready to do some serious testing. Much appreciated.
Thanks Martin.