Testing Your Website in Older Borwser Versions

[XylemBassGuitar]

Hi Everyone,

I was curious to know how some of you go about testing your new web pages in older versions of browsers (like IE6), after you already have the newer version installed on your computer. I tried to install IE 6 earlier today to test a web page or two with it, but I am unable to install the earlier version as I already have IE 7.

Also, does anyone have an idea as to the percentage of people that still use IE 6 to browse the internet?

My apologies if this question has already been addressed elsewhere.

[AutisticCuckoo]

For IE you can use standalone versions (check out multiIE, it's excellent).

Older versions of Opera are no problem; just install them in separate directories.
Older versions of Firefox should be no major problem either, although you may need to create separate profiles for them.

[fredda]

I use IETester instead of MultipleIE. It 's basically the same except that you also get the JavaScript engines.
For statistics I usually refer to Market share's Browser market share page.
Browser and operating systems I test for are the ones listed in Yahoo!'s A graded list .

[Belfast75]

I've IE6 installed through an app called 'multipleIE'. IE7 as a normal install. FF2 & FF3 both installed but FF3 runs off a different profile. Google should help you with the instructions. Chrome, Opera and Safari I have a slightly older version (not sure number off top of head) but the sites I look after all have various tags to track usage so I monitor the number of people visiting the sites and what browser they use and adjust my testing accordingly.

[XylemBassGuitar]

Thanks guys, I really appreciate the help!

[XylemBassGuitar]

I'm not sure how to make a different profile for an older version of Firefox, does anyone know where I can get a tutorial on the subject? Also, where do you recommend I get an older version of Firefox.

Also, how would I go about installing older versions of Safari for design testing?

Thanks