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Browser testing is a major part of any web development project. There are many browsers out there and everyone has their own particular favourite. Unfortunately, each browser treats web pages slightly differently, so it’s the web developer’s job to make sure whatever they create works well on all popular browsers.

Here at skysoclear, we test in all current popular browsers. Because we use Macs, testing in Safari, Firefox or Opera can all be tested natively on our machines. When it comes to testing in Internet Explorer (also know as IE), we use a couple of extra tools to make sure everything is hunky-dory.

The first tool is VirtualBox. It’s a virtualisation application, meaning you can install a virtual machine with Windows (XP, Vista or 7) or any other OS on to your machine. We’ve previously used Parallels, but we’ve found VirtualBox does the job just as well, runs pretty smoothly, is available on all platforms and it’s free!

Once you have VirtualBox installed and setup, you next need to install IE6 through to IE8. Microsoft doesn’t like you to have many flavours of IE, so you have to use a custom jobbie. Enter the Internet Explorer Collection! This package enables you to run IE 6 to IE 8 and even earlier versions on your Windows machine or virtual Windows machine.

Now you’re an IE bug-killing, style-fixing machine – go you! Have any tips yourself? Drop them in the comments and share your experiences.