For the last coupe of months I’ve been using a program called IETester, which sole purpose is to allow you to preview/browse on all versions of Internet Explorer. For all these years working in front-end development, the single biggest frustration has been Internet Explorer and to add even more, it was not possible to have more than one version of Internet Explorer in the same operating system. So this has meant that:
a) you own or check multiple computers and preview on all, and go back and forward
b) you find out about a bug through user feedback and go back and forward
c) you have multiple OS on your machine and go back and forth.
Most likely it’s d) all of the above. You can imagine. Now we have this program that saves web developers a lot of time in this lengthy process; and best of all, It’s FREE!
One of the key features that stands out is the tabbing interface, which allows you to have any version of IE on any combination you may need. The latest version added a even better interface with easily accessible buttons to open a new tab for the version you want.
The program is a little bit buggy but for the all the goodness and joy it provides, it is certainly tolerable. The biggest bug is that it freezes when you go back and forward with other programs. The exact problem seems to be when you minimize it and then try to maximize it by clicking in the taskbar. Eventually, it freezes. Not so bad! simply force close the program and restart if it freezes or avoid minimizing it and always minimize the other programs to get to it.
IETester is still in beta but it’s already a very powerful tool to have as a web developer. I strongly recommend it to everyone. It is in fact even more pleasant to browse on it than any version of IE from 5.5 to 7. =P
Visit My-Debuggar.com to get the free download!
November 22nd, 2009 at 4:32 pm
omg, u r the king! Thx for sharing it.
I already have a mozilla FF version switcher, but i couldn’t manage to find any for the IE (damn, i hate it).
Thx a LOT ^_^