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hastinapura · Oct 12, 2003, 10:03 AM

Hey, guys, I'm sure glad to find a forum for Mac Web developers. It's been feeling pretty lonely out here in a little town.

Anyway, I have to do a lot of my design just sitting on my bed or in a library cubicle with my powerbook, so I'm looking at getting VPC (and reading the horrors of upgrades, etc. in other threads) cause I can't buy a PC to check things on. Some people have been discouraging getting Windows XP for a VPC setup, because of all the extras junk it installs. But will Windows 2000 run IE6.x? (My bad - I've hardly ever touched anything but a Mac)

I really think I've GOT to get VPC to have SOME version of IE/Windows around, but I don't want something that's going to hose my whole system (like a lot of people describe). So...

What's the simplest/safest/yetadequate setup I can use? Can a web developer get by with Win2000 even if it only supports IE5.5? Or are there a lot of ways that ?IE6 differs in rendering HTML/CSS/JavaScript/etc.?

Thanks... Glad you are here!

wallinbl · Oct 12, 2003, 10:51 AM

If it runs in IE5, it will run in IE6. The reverse is not true.

Do you want to target both browsers, or just IE6?

hastinapura · Oct 12, 2003, 11:01 AM

I probably need to target both browsers, I suppose...
I just don't know much about how much market share each has now or how differently the two display things?
At this stage I probably want to keep things simple and as universal as possible (i.e., not using features that will only show up in IE6).
I'm wondering - if I design for IE5.5(Win), does almost everything that works right there work right in IE6? (or has 6 started to pay a little more attention to Standards ?)

Love Calm Quiet · 09:41 AM

That's really what I'm wrestling with to.. Can I get by with VPC having Win2000 -- that is, will it run IE6?

Any Mac web developers succeed in getting IE6 running on ANY kind of Win2000 setup (either physical PC or VPC)?

Diggory Laycock · Oct 13, 2003, 05:01 PM

Originally posted by Love Calm Quiet:
That's really what I'm wrestling with to.. Can I get by with VPC having Win2000 -- that is, will it run IE6?

Any Mac web developers succeed in getting IE6 running on ANY kind of Win2000 setup (either physical PC or VPC)?

Yes - I have VPC running Win2k - it has IE 6.

Love Calm Quiet · Oct 14, 2003, 04:41 PM

Thanks for the good news...!

Now I guess I'll shell out for VPC. One other thought.

I'm used to doing my initial design checking with Safari (it's so blessed much faster for one thing) initially, but...

For Windows compatibility will I be able to check most designs on WinIE6 until they're just about finished? Or are there a lot of quirks that frequently rear their heads only on WinIE5.5 that I'll have to be checking back with frequently to see if they're displaying as intended? (I'm asssuming I'll have to download a copy of IE5.5 to supplement the IE6 for all the old systems out there?)

mzllr · Oct 14, 2003, 05:55 PM

just curious, i'm not too up on the windows stuff either... but does windows even allow you to have multiple versions of ie on the system?

i run vpc with win98 and recently upgraded to ie6. the installation completely wiped out ie5.5.

wallinbl · Oct 14, 2003, 06:09 PM

Originally posted by mzllr:
just curious, i'm not too up on the windows stuff either... but does windows even allow you to have multiple versions of ie on the system?

i run vpc with win98 and recently upgraded to ie6. the installation completely wiped out ie5.5.

No.

Mozilla, on the other hand, will let you have as many versions as you want, since it is simply some files in a directly.

wallinbl · Oct 14, 2003, 06:13 PM

Originally posted by Love Calm Quiet:
For Windows compatibility will I be able to check most designs on WinIE6 until they're just about finished? Or are there a lot of quirks that frequently rear their heads only on WinIE5.5 that I'll have to be checking back with frequently to see if they're displaying as intended? (I'm asssuming I'll have to download a copy of IE5.5 to supplement the IE6 for all the old systems out there?)

I develop against one browser, and then test the final product against the rest. It is rare that I come across something that needs major rewriting to work on all browsers, and that usually only happens over differences between Netscape and IE. I never experience more than a slight difference within versions of the same browser.

Love Calm Quiet · Oct 14, 2003, 06:29 PM

Thanks for the clarification. Guess there's no reason to have anything other than IE 6.

As for the "only one version of an app allowed by MS" -- dang! And we think that Apple is unnecessarily arbitrary sometimes?!?

philzilla · Oct 14, 2003, 08:01 PM

Originally posted by Love Calm Quiet:
As for the "only one version of an app allowed by MS" -- dang! And we think that Apple is unnecessarily arbitrary sometimes?!?

that's because it's built into the OS (ya know, like they said it wasn't?)