# Website views different on IE 6 and IE8, can I download IE6?



## Dano2 (Nov 30, 1999)

Hi all, 

I had fixed the center content area of my website to get it to view correctly in IE8 which is what I have at home. I did this last night. 

When I got to work I viewed it on IE and noticed it was viewing incorrect again. So I checked the version at work is 6.0. 

I would not have known this had I not been on an older version of IE. What would be the solution as I have IE 8 at home. 

Can I download a version of IE6 to test with at home or is it worth it or is there another way to do this? or what would you do? 

Thanks...dano


----------



## MMJ (Oct 15, 2006)

Drop IE6 with an upgrade to IE8 option, test only on IE8. Or else warn IE6 users that content might look different and do minimal testing. That is what I would do.


----------



## colinsp (Sep 5, 2007)

Dano, IE6 is a pain but checking my site stats it is still very widely used particularly by corporates (it would be great to drop it like MMJ says but I can't at the moment) and so I have kept it on my main development machine (this doesn't help you, as AFAIK there is no way to go back from 8 to 6 you can go back to 7 by removing 8 in control panel). There is a site that checks and displays what your site looks like in 10's of different browsers including IE6. I can't find the url to it at the moment but will find it later (got to go out now wife waiting) and post the link for you.


----------



## colinsp (Sep 5, 2007)

Dano, here you go check this out http://browsershots.org/


----------



## Dano2 (Nov 30, 1999)

Colinsp...thanks for that link, very helpful. I also found this one, http://www.my-debugbar.com/wiki/IETester/HomePage. Very easy to install, works great also.

The problem with my webiste is only on 1 page. I use a ecommerce shopping cart software that I integrated into my site, which is done with .PHP. It works great on all browsers I have tried so far with the exception of IE6/IE5.5 and that one page.

The one page is for customer information, it is a table. For whatever reason that table piece will drop down to the bottom of the page in the center area. It is still there, just at the bottom.

Strange thing is that the page before that there is a similar table, that is not as long, but has the same width.

I have tried messing with the margins but that has not worked either.

Here is a screen shot attached...thanks dano


----------



## Big-K (Nov 22, 2003)

Other options are MultipleIE, or the more versatile Browser Sandbox (formerly xenocode)

http://spoon.net/browsers/


----------



## Dano2 (Nov 30, 1999)

Thanks, but the problem is not how to view it on IE6!, but how do I fix it so it views properly on IE6.....!!!


----------



## skyhigh007 (Jun 17, 2004)

Go download IETester program. It will allow you to view your site in IE6 IE7 and IE8


----------



## Dano2 (Nov 30, 1999)

You guys are killing me here!!!. Again, the problem I am having is NOT how to view my website on IE6. 

Please see my beginning post!!! My site displays fine in all versions of IE except for 1 page when I view it in IE6...

Again.......pleaseeeeeeeeeeee....I do not want to know how to view it in IE....shew.....am I not wording this correctly or something???? sorry not trying to be short here..but please read my post...thanks


----------



## colinsp (Sep 5, 2007)

Give us the url to the problem page and I'll see if I can spot something


----------



## wesware (Jun 18, 2009)

Check out this article on IE 6 hacks and see if one applies to your situation. http://www.davidjrush.com/blog/2009/01/css-ie6-bugs-and-hacks/


----------



## Dano2 (Nov 30, 1999)

Hi colinsp...here is my url, wwwDOTdefenseproshopDOTcom

All you will need to do to see it is use IE6 and just select a product on the left side, add to cart, and then hit the checkout button, this takes you to the "please enter customer details" page where you will see the problem. The table for the information drops to the bottom of the page.

The strange thing I noticed is that when you first hit the add to cart button, there is a very similar page first that has a table exactly like that one, just not as long, it is the one that has the quantity, price etc. That table/page displays ok. 

Thanks for any insight into this, I really appreciate it...dano


----------



## kfawcett (Aug 13, 2009)

You could also try this Javascript addition that will make IE6 act like IE7 and fix many of the issues associated with it. http://dean.edwards.name/IE7/

On a side note. Using programs like IETester only emulate IE6 and will not be a true representation of the flaws. You are better off using a virtual environment and running IE6 in it.

I use Virtual PC 2007 with two separate virtual hard drives. One with XP and IE6 and one with XP and IE7. You can get the images freely and virtualize each system.

Download Virtual PC 2007: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=04D26402-3199-48A3-AFA2-2DC0B40A73B6&displaylang=en

Then go here and download the platform you want to test: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=21eabb90-958f-4b64-b5f1-73d0a413c8ef&displaylang=en


----------



## Dano2 (Nov 30, 1999)

I ran my site on IE6 at work which is how I spotted it. And again, I need to see if I can fix the page in my website, not fix the browser itself. Thanks.


----------



## colinsp (Sep 5, 2007)

Dano

Looking at it one thing that could be causing the problem is that the customer contact form is not in a Div. You have your two sidebars floated and then are displaying the contact form in the body. 

The best solution (this is only a trial) set your self a div for the centre content and then drop the table for the contact form in that. It looks to me as though the table is floating below the sidebar div's which is the usual ie6 box model problem.

Give it a try and let us know how you get on.

BTW you have a spelling mistake in sidebar 1 of lipstick (liptsick)


----------



## namenotfound (Apr 30, 2005)

I used to check my sites against IE for compatibility, but I don't anymore. It was getting too cumbersome to start up my virtual machines every time I wanted to check. None of the computers I use run Windows natively.


----------



## Dano2 (Nov 30, 1999)

Colinsp, thanks, I will look into that tonite and let you know how that goes..thanks very much for taking a look at that...


----------



## Dano2 (Nov 30, 1999)

Colinsp...I tried creating a div, and putting that table in it, but that didn't seem to work. But I'm still a rookie at Dreamweaver CS3 and div's so it may be that I don't know what I'm really doing. 

I attached the code after I tried it. I restored it to what it was for now. Does the code look right? 

Thanks, dano


----------



## colinsp (Sep 5, 2007)

What about the css that goes with it? Can you post that too? You can just cut and paste into the message and put it in code tags rather than attach it.


----------



## Dano2 (Nov 30, 1999)

I can post the CSS when I get home. How do you put code tags around it?


----------



## colinsp (Sep 5, 2007)

Select 'go advanced' for the reply then click on the # symbol in the tool bar for the reply and paste the css in between [ code ] *your code here* [ / code ]


----------



## Dano2 (Nov 30, 1999)

ok, thanks will do when I get home...


----------



## Dano2 (Nov 30, 1999)

Here is my CSS code. I don't know if it makes a difference or not but this is my original CSS, after I restored my site back after seeing that last idea of the div tag didn't make a difference. Thanks, Dano


```
@charset "utf-8";
/* CSS Document */
#sidebar1 h1 {
font-size: 95%;
font-weight: bold;
}
#sidebar1 ul {
list-style-type: none;
margin: 0px;
padding: 0px;
font-size: 85%;
}
.thrColFixHdr #container {
     width: 900px; /* the auto margins (in conjunction with a width) center the page */
     background: url(../Images/tri-color-bg.gif) repeat-y;
	 background-color: #fff;
     border: 1px solid #FFFFFF;
     text-align: left; /* this overrides the text-align: center on the body element. */
     margin-top: 0;
     margin-right: auto;
     margin-bottom: 0;
     margin-left: auto;
} 
body  {
	font: 100% Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;
	background: #666666;
	margin: 0; /* it's good practice to zero the margin and padding of the body element to account for differing browser defaults */
	padding: 0;
	text-align: center; /* this centers the container in IE 5* browsers. The text is then set to the left aligned default in the #container selector */
	color: #000000;
}
.thrColFixHdr #header { 
	background: #DDDDDD; 
	padding: 0 10px 0 20px;  /* this padding matches the left alignment of the elements in the divs that appear beneath it. If an image is used in the #header instead of text, you may want to remove the padding. */
} 
.thrColFixHdr #header h1 {
	margin: 0; /* zeroing the margin of the last element in the #header div will avoid margin collapse - an unexplainable space between divs. If the div has a border around it, this is not necessary as that also avoids the margin collapse */
	padding: 10px 0; /* using padding instead of margin will allow you to keep the element away from the edges of the div */
}
.thrColFixHdr #sidebar1 {
	float: left; /* since this element is floated, a width must be given */
	width: 150px; /* the actual width of this div, in standards-compliant browsers, or standards mode in Internet Explorer will include the padding and border in addition to the width */
	background: #EBEBEB; /* padding keeps the content of the div away from the edges */
	padding-top: 15px;
	padding-right: 15px;
	padding-bottom: 15px;
	padding-left: 15px;
}
.thrColFixHdr #sidebar2 {
	float: right; /* since this element is floated, a width must be given */
	width: 160px; /* the actual width of this div, in standards-compliant browsers, or standards mode in Internet Explorer will include the padding and border in addition to the width */
	background: #EBEBEB; /* the background color will be displayed for the length of the content in the column, but no further */
	padding: 15px 10px 15px 20px; /* padding keeps the content of the div away from the edges */
}
.thrColFixHdr #mainContent {
	background-color: #FFF;
	margin-top: 0;
	margin-right: 200px;
	margin-bottom: 0;
	margin-left: 190px;
	padding-top: 0;
	padding-right: 0px;
	padding-bottom: 0;
	padding-left: 0px;
} 
.thrColFixHdr #footer { 
	padding: 0 10px 0 20px; /* this padding matches the left alignment of the elements in the divs that appear above it. */
	background:#DDDDDD;
} 
.thrColFixHdr #footer p {
	margin: 0; /* zeroing the margins of the first element in the footer will avoid the possibility of margin collapse - a space between divs */
	padding: 10px 0; /* padding on this element will create space, just as the the margin would have, without the margin collapse issue */
}
.fltrt { /* this class can be used to float an element right in your page. The floated element must precede the element it should be next to on the page. */
	float: right;
	margin-left: 8px;
}
.fltlft { /* this class can be used to float an element left in your page */
	float: left;
	margin-right: 8px;
}
.clearfloat { /* this class should be placed on a div or break element and should be the final element before the close of a container that should fully contain a float */
	clear:both;
    height:0;
    font-size: 1px;
    line-height: 0px;
}
.HomeButton {
	font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;
	font-size: 12px;
	font-style: normal;
	color: #66CCFF;
}
.style1 {font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, serif}

a:hover {
color: #FF6600;
}
.thrColFixHdr #container #sidebar1 ul {
	list-style-type: none;
	margin: 0px;
	padding: 0px;
}

TD {
	font-size: 12px;
	font-family : Verdana;
}

P {
	font-size: 12px;
	font-family : Verdana;
}

TD.smaller {
	font-size: 11px;
	font-family : Verdana;
	color : #000000;
}

P.smaller {
	font-size: 11px;
	font-family : Verdana;
	color : #000000;
}

HR {
	color : #003366;
	height : 1px;
}

TD.bgleft {
background-image: url(images/bgleft.gif);
width:10px;
}

div.prodid{
font-weight: bold;
}

span.prodoption{
font-weight: bold;
} 

.prodname, .detailname{
font-weight: bold;
}
```


----------



## kfawcett (Aug 13, 2009)

Do you have a url for the site? So I can take a look at it.


----------



## Dano2 (Nov 30, 1999)

Yes, it is, wwwDOTdefenseproshopDOTcom. To get to that problem page, just select any item on the left, add to cart, then click checkout. Its the "Please enter your customer details." table, if you view it in IE6 it drops to the bottom of the page, it works fine in IE7, IE8...thanks for any help or suggestions...


----------



## kfawcett (Aug 13, 2009)

I do apologize, but it looks like that could take a good amount of time to sort out. Hopefully someone else might have an answer for you.


----------



## Dano2 (Nov 30, 1999)

Thats ok, thanks for looking. I'm really starting to think that this is just not worth trying to fix for IE6. Unless someone else has any ideas. 

dano2


----------



## colinsp (Sep 5, 2007)

Dano, I will have some time to look at this over the weekend, I'll come back to you then.


----------



## Dano2 (Nov 30, 1999)

No worries and thanks I appreciate it. So far I can't seem to come up with any solutions. One of 2 things comes to my mind. If I can expand the area to make for room for that table...someone else said if I remove the right column that might do it (not sure if I want to do that) and I noticed the page before it has the same table, just shorter but the same width so maybe its not a width problem,....dunno...thanks though if you have any time....Dano


----------



## Dano2 (Nov 30, 1999)

Colinsp, 

Just wanted to ask about what you said here:

"Looking at it one thing that could be causing the problem is that the customer contact form is not in a Div. You have your two sidebars floated and then are displaying the contact form in the body.

The best solution (this is only a trial) set your self a div for the centre content and then drop the table for the contact form in that. It looks to me as though the table is floating below the sidebar div's which is the usual ie6 box model problem."

Could you if you have some time, elaborate a little on how to do what you mentioned on the div tag? I was thinking that perhaps I didn't do this correctly. Dano


----------



## colinsp (Sep 5, 2007)

Dano, I have been really busy and also away with SWMBO for a few days. Sorry to keep you waiting reply later today (hopefully)


----------



## Dano2 (Nov 30, 1999)

no worries I will be here, thanks. Dano


----------



## colinsp (Sep 5, 2007)

Dano, finally got to this for you.

Go to your css and make the following changes to the #maincontent


```
margin-right: 190px;
margin-left: 180px;
```
This allows 20 pixels additional for the centre content. It may look lousy from a display perspective but see if it pushes the form back up to where it should be in ie6. If it does we can make a couple of other changes to the CSS to get it looking right again.

The second thing is I don't know if it is where you were playing there is an unnecessary opening div tag at line 179 right after you open the centre div for content, so delete that too if it is in your live site.

Let me know if this fixes the problem and then we can tidy up your css from there.

Colin


----------



## Dano2 (Nov 30, 1999)

Thanks Colin, I will try that when I get home from work. Silly question, I use Dreamweaver CS3, how do I know which is line 179? thanks, Dano


----------



## colinsp (Sep 5, 2007)

I use CS3 too it is one of the display options in code view.


----------



## Dano2 (Nov 30, 1999)

Hi Colin,

I went down to line 179 but didn't see that extra div tag you mentioned. Here is a snapshot of the code on that line from my code view. Thought I would try and fix that piece first then do that CSS code adjustment. thanks Dano


```
177  <!-- InstanceEndRepeatEntry --><!-- InstanceEndRepeat --></div>
178 <div id="mainContent"><!-- InstanceBeginEditable name="Center Column" -->
179 <h2 align="center"><?php include "vsadmin/db_conn_open.php" ?>
180 <?php include "vsadmin/inc/languagefile.php" ?>
```


----------



## colinsp (Sep 5, 2007)

Its not in that version of the code so it was something that crept in to the txt file that you posted.


----------



## Dano2 (Nov 30, 1999)

I may have posted the older code before I changed it back.


----------



## Dano2 (Nov 30, 1999)

Colin, 

Awesome...that worked. The only thing I see going on is that if you view it in IE8/IE7 or FF, there is that inner background stripe that is getting cuttoff by the container. I attached a screen shot of it in firefox and outlined it in red. 

I'm thinking that is the background: url(../Images/tri-color-bg.gif) repeat-y; image to fix the equal 3 column height problem? just guessing...anything we can do to fix that? It kinda separates the columns from the main content kinda a look...

thanks..dano


----------



## colinsp (Sep 5, 2007)

That's good news that is what I was expecting to happen.


The first thing to do is slowly increase the width the margins say 2px each time (add 2 px to left and right margins) until it starts displaying incorrectly and see where we get to.

Once you know at what width the problem arises we can make the appropriate changes to your css. It may be as simple as adding a couple of pixels to the width of your master container or it could be something else. 

Let me know the final values you get to before the problem shows.


----------



## Dano2 (Nov 30, 1999)

Would I not want to decrease the margins? or maybe you mean increase them by 2px from what they originally were? Or do you mean increase them 2 px from right: 190px;
margin-left: 180px;? to 192px then 182px etc...

Just want to make sure I'm doing this right...thanks Dano


----------



## Dano2 (Nov 30, 1999)

Colin, I got it looking pretty good as of right now. I have the margins set at right:195, left:185, and set the left and right padding to 2px. I tried setting the padding to 10 but that seemed to mess up things again. Dano


----------



## colinsp (Sep 5, 2007)

Yes the padding of 10px would screw things up. Sorry I should have made the increase of tha margins clearer (I knew what I meant  ). Glad you have it sorted.


----------



## Dano2 (Nov 30, 1999)

no worries....) at least I got it looking pretty good with your help...Since you have CS3 also, do you know is there a way that I can adjust the padding on individual pages? I was going to try that but it didn't work out due to my pages are based off a template and the center area I set to repeatable region i think....


----------



## colinsp (Sep 5, 2007)

It isn't easy to do as you are using the templates in DW. The only way would be to have multiple templates and use the appropriate one for the page BUT that rather defeats the object of having a template.

What I have gone over to doing is to have the common elements as php includes and then I can style the page with css as appropriate but have common headers and footers and menu bars but change the page layout as I wish.


----------



## Dano2 (Nov 30, 1999)

Yea sounds kinda complicated. I'm pretty happy with the way it came out, I would of liked to be able to add a little more padding but all in all not that big of a deal.

Thanks a bunch for your help with this Colin...I really appreciate it!! that one page was really bugging me ) dano


----------



## colinsp (Sep 5, 2007)

The only way you will be able to add a little extra padding is by increasing the main container width by a few pixels (the number that you want to increase the padding by). Glad it is all sorted now.


----------

