All website tests for IE are conducted on real browsers installed in real environments. Note: BrowserStack doesn’t simulate Internet Explorer on macOS or Windows. The whole infrastructure is cloud-based, which means one simply needs to sign up for free -> Log in -> Choose the desired OS-browser-version combination -> Start testing. For example, one can test on Internet Explorer(v 6-11), Edge (v80-104), and so on directly through their web browsers regardless of the operating system they use. This allows the developer or tester to examine how actual end-users would interact with their website on a specific browser or browser version.īrowserStack offers a diverse range of real browsers (IE, Edge, Chrome, Safari, etc.) for this very purpose. Teams can simply leverage a cloud-based testing platform that enables them to test websites on real device-browser combinations remotely. Listed below are different ways to test Internet Explorer on Mac So how does one address this challenge? Different Ways to Test IE on Mac Needless to say, these are time-consuming and effort-intensive methods that don’t always provide reliable results. This means that users cannot install IE as a standalone application on a third-party operating system i.e MacOS devices.Įarlier, the only way QA engineers using macOS could test websites on IE was by using virtual machines with a Windows environment or by downloading the Internet Explorer emulator on Mac. Microsoft bundled it as a pre-installed application for its OS.

Note: Internet Explorer was a native browser solely developed for the Windows operating system (OS). Now, let’s explore the challenges faced by QAs using macOS to test websites on IE.

Providing a seamless surfing experience for IE will establish brand credibility by offering a more browser-agnostic experience.

To provide a truly inclusive experience, one must optimize web apps for Internet Explorer. Hence, choosing not to optimize your website for IE can lead to loss of revenue & traffic from such customers.

There are users (generally older individuals) who might have used IE for over a decade, making IE their default browser.

It is still one of the most recognizable browsers in the world.

Despite its low market share, bear in mind that IE has significant brand recognition.

While the low market share of Internet Explorer might make it seem like one can simply avoid testing websites on IE, this is not the case.

Is it still relevant to test and optimize web applications for Internet Explorer? Having said this, let’s try to answer an important question. IE holds a global market share of 1.08% in the desktop browsing space. It’s no secret that the glory days of Internet Explorer (IE) are behind us.

Download microsoft explorer for mac