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Websquad
Mon., Dec. 22, 2008, 11:19 am
I just reviewed my church's awstats report for November. I'm beginning to get a few "hits" from IE 8 users. Here's the breakdown:

IE8 ... 0.2%
IE7 ... 54.4%
IE6 ... 16.2%
FYI:
FireFox (all version) ... 13%
Safari ... 3.4%

My main test browser (and default browser) is FireFox; I keep IE6 on my main development platform for testing, and keep IE 7 on my laptop for occasional compatibility testing.

QUESTION: IE 8 is marching on. Is it time to ditch IE 6 on my main platform and replace it with IE 8? As far as I know, you still can't have two different versions of IE on a Windows machine without installing some type of VM environment, and I'd like to avoid that.

Comments ??
HorizonsChurch
Wed., Feb. 4, 2009, 2:15 pm
Personally I wouldn't toss IE 6 yet. It still accounts for the second highest percentage of hits for your site, and just because a new version of IE is out doesn't mean that the people who didn't get the upgrade from 6 to 7 will upgrade from 6 to 8.

I know you said you would like to avoid it, but I downloaded a program called Multiple IEs. It lets you install 5, 5.5, and 6 on the same machine, and allows you to keep IE 7. It didn't require any setup and hasn't caused any problems with my computer so far. I installed it over the summer when I was working on the new template for our church site. I'm pretty sure that a google search for multiple IEs will bring up the site.

I'm still holding out for a world where there is no more IE, but I doubt that will happen in my lifetime...
JackWolfgang
Thu., Feb. 5, 2009, 12:12 am
My main test browser (and default browser) is FireFox; I keep IE6 on my main development platform for testing, and keep IE 7 on my laptop for occasional compatibility testing.

QUESTION: IE 8 is marching on. Is it time to ditch IE 6 on my main platform and replace it with IE 8? As far as I know, you still can't have two different versions of IE on a Windows machine without installing some type of VM environment, and I'd like to avoid that.

The VM solution is the best solution for testing multiple copies of IE. Microsoft's Virtual PC product is free, and they have been releasing IE test machines.


Microsoft Virtual PC Home Page (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/virtualpc/default.mspx)
IE VPC Test Machine Announcments (http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/search.aspx?q=Virtual+PC&p=1) (MDSN IE Blog (http://blogs.msdn.com/ie))