Internet Explorer was once the king of browsers. However, over time, it lost its grounds to more up-to-date and quicker browsers such as Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Microsoft Edge. Nevertheless, this fall and loss haven’t stopped it yet, as it is still being used by many organizations and users due to either legacy systems or enterprise environments that remain on older technologies.

Therefore, testing compatibility with IE becomes a nightmare for the developers and the testers since the browser does not completely abide by modern web standards compared to other browsers. This article examines some of the challenges in testing with Internet Explorer online and some of the effective solutions for these challenges.

The Importance of Testing with Internet Explorer

Even though Microsoft officially stopped supporting Internet Explorer on June 15, 2022, and since then has recommended that users switch to Microsoft Edge, many companies and government agencies still rely on IE. This is partly because some of these legacy systems and intranet applications are integrated into Internet Explorer. So, developers and testers do not have an option but to ensure their website or application works fine with IE, though it is for their sake.

Here’s why testing on Internet Explorer remains important:

  • Legacy Systems: Most applications from earlier generations, particularly those running in enterprise environments, were quite literally built to work with IE. Such systems might rely on proprietary technologies like ActiveX controls or older versions of JavaScript that modern browsers do not support.
  • Government and Institutional Use: Many governmental departments and big institutions require their employees, for reasons of internal security or policy, to use Internet Explorer, thereby binding websites and applications to maintain compatibility.
  • User Base: While small, there is still a user base that relies on IE-either by personal preference or sometimes simply not upgrading their systems. Compatibility helps avoid losing this audience segment.

Challenges of Testing with Internet Explorer

The list of unique challenges that testing in modern browsers presents compared to testing on Internet Explorer is many. Some of the most extended challenges include:

1. Lack of Modern Standards Compliance

Compared to other modern browsers, IE lags in terms of compliance with web standards. CSS Grid, Flexbox, and most of the modern functionalities in JavaScript, including the ES6 syntax, are either not supported at all or supported only partially in older versions of IE. From this ground of non-compliance, a website viewed in IE will look and act differently compared to other modern browsers.

2. Inconsistent Rendering

The most frustrating thing with testing in IE probably is its inconsistent rendering of HTML and CSS. Elements that perfectly render in Chrome or Firefox might show up as broken or distorted in IE. Such inconsistencies can extend the testing time necessary for ensuring a uniform user experience across all browsers.

3. Performance Issues

The sluggish performance of Internet Explorer is notorious, especially with modern web applications based on heavy usage of JavaScript. Pages opening in a literal flash on other browsers take a good amount of time in IE, which causes poor user experiences.

4. Limited Developer Tools

Compared to modern browsers such as Chrome and Firefox, the developer tools in Internet Explorer are highly limited in functionality and usability, thereby making it more time-consuming and challenging to debug issues in IE.

5. Security Vulnerabilities

Internet Explorer is designed on now-outdated architecture and is thus more susceptible to security vulnerabilities than other, more modern browsers. It has also proven tricky to test for security vulnerabilities in IE, not least because many of the modern security practices-like Content Security Policy-are either not supported, or incompletely so.

6. End of Support

Microsoft has officially retired support for Internet Explorer, meaning no more security updates or technical support. This adds to some degree of complexity to testing, where testers must make considerations for possible security risks and unsupported features.

Solutions to Test Internet Explorer Online

However, there are several other valid solutions for online testing with Internet Explorer. These solutions will provide developers and testers with the means to test the compatibility and functionality of their applications in all different versions of IE-even in a world dominated by modern browsers.

1. Using Online Browser Testing Tools

The quickest way to test your stuff in Internet Explorer is through an online browser testing tool. This lets you run your website or application on different versions of IE without having to install the browser locally. Such online testing tools include :

  • LambdaTest: LambdaTest is another cloud-based cross-browser testing tool that supports Internet Explorer. It allows a range of options to test on: live interactive testing, automated Selenium testing, and visual testing. LambdaTest also integrates with popular continuous integration/continuous deployment tools for seamless testing processes.
  • CrossBrowserTesting: This service grants access to a wide variety of browsers-including, of course, Internet Explorer-and operating systems. It provides live testing, screenshots, and automated testing. CrossBrowserTesting includes debugging tools that will make it easier to identify and fix issues in IE.
  • TestRigor: TestRigor is a cloud-based cross-browser testing service that does support Internet Explorer. It tests your websites and applications against different devices and browsers without having you work with physical hardware. TestRigor provides detailed test reports, including manual and automated testing, which makes pinpointing and fixing compatibility bugs quite easy.

Special thanks to these tools for testing against Internet Explorer, from IE8 through IE11. Online browser testing tools make sure you cover all versions of IE on any operating system.

2. Virtual Machines

Another way to test with Internet Explorer is by the use of virtual machines. Microsoft provided free virtual machines that were pre-loaded with different versions of Internet Explorer along with Windows. It can be downloaded and run locally with the use of software like VirtualBox or VMware.

  • Advantages: Virtual machines provide a realistic testing environment, as they accurately emulate the operating system and browser configurations of users. This will certainly be helpful for testing some complex interactions or debugging issues that are not easy to simulate in cloud-based tools.
  • Disadvantages: Virtual machines are very resource-intensive, requiring a lot from your processor and RAM. Setting up and maintaining VMs is extremely time-consuming, especially if you have to test in several versions of Internet Explorer.

3. Using Microsoft Edge’s IE Mode

For the developers and testers who want to create an integrated solution, Microsoft Edge has something called “IE Mode” that will render web pages as they show up in Internet Explorer. This is helpful for organizations transitioning from IE to Edge because this allows compatibility testing without having to toggle back and forth between browsers.

  • IE Mode: With Microsoft Edge, the IE Mode allows you to render websites in a legacy rendering engine without having to leave the modern browser. This is useful to test those legacy apps being transitioned to a modern browser that rely on IE compatibility.
  • Configuration: This can be configured through group policies or enabled manually within the settings of Edge. It contains support for Internet Explorer 11 and the legacy document modes, making it truly versatile in testing of older sites and applications.

4. Using Compatibility Libraries and Polyfills

Compatibility libraries or polyfills are ways that developers work their way out of Internet Explorer’s lack of conformance with modern standards. Compatibility libraries or polyfills, both names refer to a library that fills in the gap between modern web features and older browsers that don’t support them.

  • Polyfills: A polyfill is a piece of code-usually JavaScript-that implements a feature in older browsers where the feature isn’t supported natively. For example, if you’re using modern JavaScript features such as Promises or fetch and want them to work in IE, then you can include polyfills that make the browser support it.
  • Fallbacks in CSS: Other than polyfills, there are a couple of fallbacks in CSS that at least make your site look decent enough in IE when not supported by the modern features of CSS. Suppose you use CSS Grid; then you can include a fallback layout using floats or Flexbox for old browsers.
  • Modernizr: It is a JavaScript library that detects browser features and allows you to conditionally load polyfills or fallback code based on the browser’s capabilities. This makes sure users in older browsers such as Internet Explorer have a working experience.

5. Graceful Degradation and Progressive Enhancement

For websites and applications that have to support Internet Explorer, the developer should think about implementing graceful degradation and progressive enhancement techniques.

  • Graced Degradation: This means building the Website with state-of-the-art features then making sure it degrades gracefully on older browsers. For instance, if some CSS animation or JavaScript feature is not supported in IE, the Website should at least work without that particular feature, perhaps with less finesse.
  • Progressive Enhancement: In opposition to graceful degradation, it is a philosophy of development in which you build a minimal version of your website that works on all browsers-including IE-and then layer on the additional enhancements for modern browsers. This makes sure the core functionality is always accessible, regardless of the browser.

6. Continuous Integration

The best way to ensure compatibility will continue with Internet Explorer is to incorporate regular testing into your development process. By including cross-browser testing in your CI/CD pipeline early in the development cycle, you should be able to catch and fix issues before they can occur in production.

  • Automation of Tests: Automation with automated testing frameworks like Selenium, Cypress, or Playwright will have you create test scripts running seamlessly on different browsers, including Internet Explorer. That way, you know every code change has been tested against working in IE.

You can also use cloud based testing platforms like LambdaTest to automate your tests at scale. LambdaTest is a cloud-based test automation platform that runs web browsers online to conduct cross-browser testing on a wide range of browsers, including Internet Explorer and Microsoft Edge online.

  • Continuous Monitoring: Besides periodic testing, continuous monitoring can be considered in order to understand how your website performs on different browsers in real time. This will help identify issues that may arise post-deployment, hence quickening the resolving process.

Conclusion

Online testing of the Internet Explorer browser remains one of the critical jobs for developers and testers, considering those environments where systems and applications rely on legacy. While there are several unique challenges that come with IE-from inconsistent rendering to a lack of modern standards compliance-there are effective solutions.

Harnessing the power of online browser testing, virtual machines, Microsoft Edge’s IE Mode available to use, compatibility libraries, and best practices such as graceful degradation and progressive enhancement-one can most definitely make a website or application functional and accessible to every kind of user, including the most famous: Internet Explorer users.

Wrapping in regular testing and continuous integration will allow you to catch issues with compatibility early on and resolve them swiftly. It’s part of providing an easily usable experience across all browsers. Although the days of dominance by Internet Explorer are long since gone, testing with IE is still one of the most important steps in maintaining your site’s compatibility and appeal to every different user.