Does IE9 have browser mode down to IE7 and does this mean different version of Javascript

Question

I'm having some trouble setting up virtual machines for testing IE versions (I use a mac) and have noticed on IE8 it has a browser switching mode.

Does this mode do a full switch for CSS and Javascript, I need testing to be 100% reliable.

Also does IE9 have a similar feature going down to IE7?

Answer 1

It's not going to be 100% reliable, I can tell you that right now. The only way to really test on IE7 is to test on IE7. For most layout checks, using the newer browser in emulation mode will be fine, but there are definitely bugs and oddities in the actual older browsers that the newer browsers don't mimic faithfully.

Answer 2

When you change The browser mode from the IE developer tools, IE renders the site according with your selection.

IE 9 also has this option, and if say you pick IE7, you'll get pretty much the same expercience you would get in that browser (from a layout and functionality point of view), but it's not completely reliable, some Javascript quirks are not the same (I can't remember any specific ones)

If you really need to test in IE7, get IE7 :D

More info here!

Answer 3

Press F12, and in the developer tools toolbar change browser mode to IE7 and Document Mode: IE7 (if you change the browser mode, then doc mode automatically changes also).

As for whether you get a different Javascript API? I don't know.

I agree with @Pointy, though. Realistically you actually need to run IE7. A VM is often a good way to do this if you don't want to muck about getting the different versions running side-by-side.