Multiple Internet Explorer Clients

19 Jan 2010 | by Edward Davies

by Sam Street

As a web developer it has always been a arduous ordeal working with Internet Explorer 6.0. Too many times I have perfected a layout in a modern browser such as Firefox only to later remember "Wait! Does it work in IE?".

As usual the design renders to a degree but gives extra padding and margins where it shouldn't and the floated elements seem to push all the central content to the bottom of the page. The usual CSS hacks are applied...

Then one day Windows releases Internet Explorer 7.0. I decide to install it because when developing for websites you must aim to reach as many users as possible, cross browser, cross platform. Internet Explorer 7.0 installed, great. But where did IE 6 go? I will need this for development?

Oh, it appears Internet Explorer 6.0 was removed when it was upgraded - and there is no way to get it back.

How could this happen? Surely Microsoft know that not everyone will be upgrading to their latest browser instantly. It goes without saying that developers should still offer IE 6 compatibility for at least a few more years to cater for people who choose not to upgrade, shared computers in schools, and those who are not very computer literate.

So how do I get Internet Explorer 6.0 back so I can ensure my layouts can be served in Internet Explorer 6.0 without an incorrect appearance?

I have found a program that will install previous versions of Internet Explorer as standalone executables!

Multiple IE Clients

Basically upgrade to Internet Explorer 7.0 then run the setup file. You may install the following versions of Internet Explorer: