Multiple versions of IE ?

But before that I'd like to test it in other IE versions myself first.

I have IE 6 installed (part of XP w SP2). Is it possible to have separate installations of say IE5.01 and IE 5.5 to use for testing? Any easy way to do that?

I searched for solutions, but it seemed rather complex to set up.

Old browsers can be found at:http://browsers.evolt.org/
And instructions for setting up mulptiple IEs:
http://labs.insert-title.com/labs/Multiple-IEs-in-Windows_article795.aspx

The instructions seem to be quite complex. Perhaps there are now easier ways to do this?

The reason I ask is if they download the full version after payment it makes sense to test heavily against earlier versions of IE. If you are using one of the self contained APS systems either the ebook will work or won't. The key advantage is if it doesn't work they won't be able to purchase the ebook, which means that your after sales help is minimized.

I only mention this in case you are not able to fully test your ebook against earlier versions of IE.

I did read through a mountain of tips and tricks at various fora. It seems that this has been a huge issue for web designers for some time! And it really should be a concern for eBook writers using AEC as well.

For once I can contribute with a solution!

No hack is required anymore.
Simply go to:http://browsers.evolt.org/?ie/32bit/standaloneand download the zipped version of whatever IE version your heart desires (such as IE5.01 AND 5.5 and perhaps even 4.0).

Just unzip each file into a new directory, and voila – the executable IE files you find there are actual standalone programs that you can run simultaneously with whatever you already have as part of your windows version.

The one problem with this is that the standalone versions takes on the name of the one you already have installed (like IE6.02) . Thus the IE specific “if IE X.Y. sniffer” will not work:

<*!--[if IE 5.5]>
<link href="ie55.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" />
<![endif]--*>

(The *'s above should of course be removed - just added to be able to show the code in question here)

This is so since your newly installed IE5.5 renders web content as IE5.5 but listens to the name of IE 6…

However, being a little clever with the alternate IE CSS style sheet it is straightforward to test all the IE versions.

Hope somebody finds this useful!