Hi everyone,
Is there an easy way to test a website with IE7 without having to install virtual machines or stuff like that ?
If I want a quick, static view, I just use BrowserLab.
You could also try BrowserShots or [URL=“http://ipinfo.info/netrenderer/index.php”]NetRenderer.
Yes I know this page and I used it a couple times. But this is not really testing.
How do the majority of web designer test their pages with IE7 ?
Well, obviously the best way is by testing in IE7. It’s not too hard to set up a virtual machine, or maybe have a spare laptop or something.
Short of that, a lot of people use IE Tester or [URL=“http://spoon.net/browsers/”]Spoon.
Another option is to use Compatability View (may not be the right name) in IE8, which is supposed to render pages in IE7 mode. I don’t think it’s totally reliable though.
BrowserShots and IETester are your best bets. The new IE9 has some render tools to help.
If you have IE9 installed, open up the developer tools, and choose “Browser Mode: IE7 Standards”
It’s not perfect, but it’s usually close enough… though all the tools are nothing like the real thing, which is why I usually say suck it up and build a VM. Go find some old XP CD, an old dead computer to grab the keycode off of, and install away – I like to have two copies; one with 7 native, and one with 6 native.
… and forget about idiocy like browsershots, browsercams and other nonsense – NEVER renders anything like the real browser does (for me at least), takes too damned long to see changes when doing real development, you can’t test dynamic layouts in them – just not worth the hassles.
It’s not perfect, but it’s usually close enough… though all the tools are nothing like the real thing, which is why I usually say suck it up and build a VM.
Yup, ++
I used to use browsershots specifically for seeing Mac fonts, as I don’t have a Mac. However, there was only one Mac computer in the cloud at that time, and eventually they removed it last time I was there… and it took about 40 minutes to get a screenshot, every time. Bah.
There’s another tool I found called load.in however it’s a paid service, and more for testing large sites around the world in different browsers. And it seems to lose sites who require www subdomains for some reason. So I couldn’t test any sites that required that.
If you want to test Mac font rendering, just look at the rendering in Windows, close your eyes, and image those fonts looking ten times better, and that will give you a pretty accurate idea of how they look. 
Lawlz.
Well for example, Zapfino is freaking huge… wanted to try it on a header, but needed to see how badly it showed. It was bad, so I ended up removing it, but needed a Mac view to see it. It’s got evil line-height.
Yeah, sorry, I should have thought of Mac-only fonts. If you ever need a screen shot, let me know.