4 Replies Latest reply: Mar 31, 2012 2:14 PM by Shan-Dysigns RSS

    IE Tester vs. Adobe BrowserLab

    Shan-Dysigns Community Member

      Which website tester is more accurate out of IE Tester and Adobe BrowserLab?

       

      I sometimes get different results, but usually when I test IE6 (I don't know why I care about IE6, but this may be the last project I worry about IE6).

       

      Here is what I get with Adobe BrowserLab (looks as it should)

      adobe-labs.jpg

       

      Here is what I get with IE Tester (notice the red outline).

      ie-tester.jpg

       

      I tend to think IE Tester is buggy (especially on the IE6 tab) because it crashes at random times (sometimes when it's just idle in the background).

       

      What other browser testers are there out there?

       

      Are people still designing for IE6?

        • 1. Re: IE Tester vs. Adobe BrowserLab
          Shan-Dysigns Community Member

          Geez, I thought this would have been an easy question. I know I'm not the only one who tests websites using different programs, am I?

          • 2. Re: IE Tester vs. Adobe BrowserLab
            martcol Community Member

            So as you don't think anyone at all is interested, I looked at your question a couple of times and didn't really know what to say.  Actually, my first thought was to wonder whether the difference in your two testing outcomes might be a coding issue but I didn't want to say that you know, in case you're a super, whizz, coder and I might end up looking daft!  But hey ho.

             

            I use IE Tester and quite like it.  You are right that it is buggy and I don't think I have ever had a program crash so much.  I don't use browser labs so can't really compare very much.  I tend to think that if my stuff looks OK in the modern browsers that I have on my local machine it will be OK.  I have a quick peek in IE tester and see how that goes and then maybe use netrenderer to just be sure.

             

            I guess the difficulty with your original question is that you have to wait for someone to come along who has the same workflow as you do.

             

            Martin

            • 3. Re: IE Tester vs. Adobe BrowserLab
              Nancy O. CommunityMVP

              I test in current releases of Safari, Chrome, Opera, Firefox, IE9, IE8 and IE7 (no longer develop for 6).

              IE tester is not perfect but unlike screenshots, it allows you test functionality. 

               

               

               

              Nancy O.

              Alt-Web Design & Publishing

              Web | Graphics | Print | Media  Specialists 

              http://alt-web.com/

              http://twitter.com/altweb

              http://alt-web.blogspot.com/

              • 4. Re: IE Tester vs. Adobe BrowserLab
                Shan-Dysigns Community Member

                I wouldn't be afraid to express what's on your mind. If it's coming from a place of experience, that's accepted. I only have issue when people randomly throw out their opinions and have a). no idea of what I'm talking about and/or b). have no idea what I'm talking about. I don't think it's a matter of code (because it's a simple background image inside a div). I'm not sure there are enough variables in that to think it's a matter of code. I just think it's a matter of IE Tester being buggy. Like I said, I've really only noticed the differences when I use the IE6 tab, but again like I said, I'm not going to worry about IE6 after this project (or maybe not worry about it now). Last I checked, IE6 had a market usage of around 3%, and I'm sure my client's target audience would be more "up to date people".

                 

                The bad thing about BrowserLab is the fact they are going to discontinue their "free service" sometime this year, so I better start looking for alternative ways to test websites on older browsers.

                 

                Maybe one day all the browser developing geeks will meet and come up with a more standard and compatible platform. It's ridiculous to have so many variables to accommodate when designing.