test website compatability with IE7

Question

Hi,

I would like to see how my website renders in IE7. Unfortunately, my computer has IE8 installed, and I don't know how to downgrade to IE7. I've considered using the IE Tab Firefox plugin but reviews seem fairly mixed and I'm not sure how accurately it emulates IE7. Any other suggestions?

Thanks, Don

Answer 1

I would use a virtual machine with internet explorer 7.

You can download an image from microsoft for free which has windows xp and ie 7 installed on it.

Answer 2

We use ietester which allows you to test in all versions of IE and seems quite accurate

Answer 3

I've had good luck with Xenocode. I wrote about it: Xenocode and multiple IE's.

Answer 4

You could use

 <meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=EmulateIE7" />

to make IE8 fallback to IE7 rendering mode.

Answer 5

Isn't there an option in IE 8 called compatibility view, right next to the refresh button, that simulates how IE 7 looks.

Myself personally, since I am a Mac user and I hate getting on my virtual machine just to check something real quick, I always use this Internet Explorer Net Renderer.

Answer 6

You can use the developer tools (F12) to switch the browser mode to IE7.

Answer 7

Here's a free tool from Microsoft that allows you to do IE 6, IE 7 and IE 8 in a very neat comparison view: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=8e6ac106-525d-45d0-84db-dccff3fae677&displaylang=en