Erika
The problem is probably a little broader than three versions of 2
browsers... you also have the Mac platform (and Linux).
Here's how I do it (on an iMac)
MacOS
You can install as many versions of each browser as desired... but you can
only run 1 version of IE concurrent with 1 version of NN
You can change versions of either by quitting the current version
and starting another version (no OS reboot is necessary)
So, you can easily cycle thru the Mac Browsers & Versions
Concurrent with the MacOS browsers (and any other Mac Programs) you
can run 1 or more emulated PC environments using VirtualPC or
Softwindows. These products allow you to simulate PC
win95/win98/winNT/win2K/ and PC Linux environments concurrently with
any MacOS programs.
It's a little more difficult onder the win environment... win olny
allows each machine to have 1 version of each browser installed.
But, you can define (and concurrently run) as many Virtual PC
machines as you need (each with it's own C drive, etc)
All this shares a single web connection with the MacOS.
So, under Emulation you may have:
Emulated Machine 1 running Win98 running IE 3 and NN 4
Emulated Machine 2 running Win2K running IE 5 and NN 6
To change versions you merely virtually boot another Emulated
machine. (You can virtually boot and shutdown in a few seconds... as
the emulators save/restore status)
On an 333 MHZ iMac with 96 Meg Real Memory an Emulated PC runs like a
300 MHZ P3... assuming no other emulated PCs or MacOS programs are
hogging cycles.
You can improve this by adding memory.
This isn't the most responsive environment... but it's adequate for
validating web pages for browser versions.
So, for less than $900:
iMac 333MHZ................. $799
Emulator Linux ............. $89 will run any win versions (Not included)
and 16 square inches of desktop space:
You have a machine which will allow you to test multiple versions of
multiple browsers on mulltiple platforms... simultaneously, over a
single web connection.
(along with a whole bunch of other stuff).
It is *very* easy to install and *very* easy to use. For example, If
an emulated PC machine crashes (or needs to be rebooted) this usually
happens without affecting the other programs.
Even if the total system crashes (infrequent) you can be back up and
running in little more time than is req'd to boot a real PC.
Typically I run concurrently:
MacOS
NN 4.6.
IE 5.0
WebTV Viewer
PhotoShop
Office 98: Word/Excel
NetFinder: FTP Client
BBEdit Program Editor
Perl
Sherlock Web Search Client
Emulated Machine 1 Win98
IE 4.x
NN 4.x
Office 97: MS-Access
If necessary I start a second emulated Machine (or virtually reboot the above)
to run IE 5.x NN 6
Finally, some added bonuses:
You can share directories/files/printers between the Mac and Emulated PC
machines
You can Copy/Paste between Applications on the Mac and any Emulated
PC machine
The iMac comes with 10BaseT (standard) and the emulators come with PC
networking in several flavors (Standard)... so you can easily interface
with your other machines by just buying a cable.
Virtually all of your PC software will run on the iMac.
Any viruses that infect an emulated machine are limited to that virtual
machine.
Suspect email, files, etc (e.g. Love Bug) can be opened and examined using
the MacOS with no infection.
It is a lot easier to run, than it is to describe.
HTH
Dick
At 7:34 AM -0700 5/24/2000, Erika Foster wrote:
>Much thanks to this list, I just turned in my first very large project to a
>client who is very happy with the results. Amazing what CF can do!
>
>On to my next project: my new client has asked that we make sure the site is
>compliant with IE 3.0 - 5.1, and Netscape 4.0 - present. Not a huge deal,
>but a big pain in the butt. I've tried running both IE 4.0 and 5.0 on my
>development machine with no luck. How am I going to run three versions of
>each browser?
>
>How do you suggest ensuring compliancy with all browsers and versions?
>
>Thanks,
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