views:

1900

answers:

8

I want to test a website on mac, my client telling that there is something not working well on mac browsers.

I have windows pc and don't know any friend near me has mac to test on it.

Where i can find something like a virtual machine for mac to run mac from a pc.

And if its not possible, do you have any smart idea to solve my problem

+4  A: 

You cannot legally virtualize Mac OS X on a PC. If you look hard enough you might be able to find someone to rent out an account on a Mac workstation or server, or there are web services that send you screenshots of your website with different browsers and different platforms.

Does the problem show up in Safari for Windows though? It's not going to render it exactly the same due to fonts and such, but it's the easiest first step to take.

Marc Charbonneau
A: 

If it's just a webkit issue, Marc makes a great point about Safari for Windows. It's the same rendering code as Safari on Mac.

Beyond that, there is only one supported solution: get a Mac.

There are unsupported, and to varying level effective and ineffective solutions. They tend to be complex and often work only with specific versions of OS X. A google search for "mac intel pc" will get you on the track.

That said, at almost any serious consulting rate, you will come out far ahead by going onto eBay and getting a Mac Mini. They're very nice boxes, and quite affordable. Personally, I'm a big fan of Apple's refurb deals. They've got a nice Mini on there right now for $419. Unless your rate is very low, you're going to save yourself and your client a lot money and tears by just getting one, and then you'll have one handy for the next half-dozen times this comes up.

Rob Napier
A: 

First off, "something not working well on mac browsers" is not a valid problem report, it's a vague indication that something may be wrong. You should be first getting information from your user as to what exactly they mean by this. Otherwise you have no idea what you're really looking for.

Then, you have few options. If you can't borrow/beg/steal a Mac for testing, you'll need to either buy one or state that it's unsupported. If you're hard up for cash, you might want to consider dropping by your local Mac store and asking to demo their latest and greatest machine, the most expensive one so they'll be more likely to give you free reign using it for 15 or 20 minutes.

That's what I'd do but I'm a sneaky cynical old guy :-)

Another alternative (if possible) would be to drop around to the client's site to check it out. This will save you both the cost of buying a Mac and endear you to the client as someone who goes out of their way to keep them happy (no good, obviously, if they're on the other side of the country).

paxdiablo
+4  A: 

There is no "official" way to do this. Try:

http://wiki.osx86project.org/wiki/index.php/Vmware_how_to

Here's a hacked MacOS running in VMWare as a virtual PC:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFatkCogTaU

William Leara
I'm not going to vote you down but you may want to reconsider posting links to legally questionable material. Just because something is technically possible, that doesn't make it legal.
paxdiablo
And just because it's not legal doesn't mean it's not legal to talk about it, or to tell someone how to do it. Last I checked, Mac's were not nuclear weapons, and virtualizing them isn't a terrorist activity... yet. :-)
Chris Kaminski
It doesn't have to be a terrorist activity to be illegal. Pre-meditated murder is not a terrorist activity either. I'm just pointing out that @William was advocating an activity specifically disallowed under the EULA for OSX. You have no right under the law to do that. By all means, do it if you wish. I'm not your mother.
paxdiablo
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_difference_between_civil_and_criminal_law
Breton
+1  A: 

I've found that Xenocode works best for me; I like using it much more than browsershots.

Hooray Im Helping
This loads a windows safari not a mac safari :(
Amr ElGarhy
Bummer, I wasn't sure how the emulation worked.
Hooray Im Helping
A: 

This is a great excuse to get your boss to buy you a mac. Other ways of seeing a "mac browser" site irregularity are to use Chrome or Safari browsers in Windows or hit your site on an iPhone (providing it doesn't use flash).

Hardwareguy
A: 

Didn't Adobe release a product today to do just this?

https://browserlab.adobe.com/index.html

Paul Betts
A: 

In addition to Adobe's BrowserLab (mentioned by Paul), BrowserShots also lets you check web site rendering in a number of OS / browser combinations (including Mac).

CharlieWhiskey