IE 6 Reluctant friend and frequent foe – Part III

Jessica Hammer - March 25, 2008

Part III – How to hunt down and patch up ie6 bugs

You are coding out a web page, you fit the styles, arrange your divs, align your margins, and check it on your browser, just to be sure that it’s correct.
It’s not.
There’s a huge hole in your layout, and you have no idea why! What do you do?
Well, you could read Part 1 of this series, and feel some solidarity with others (including me) who share your dilemma. Or you could read part 2, and employ some of the ie hacks I suggest, add an ie specific stylesheet, or try some different CSS tricks. But when none of that works, and you just cannot find the source of the ghost, you will need some serious tools.

As I have mentioned before, we test on many browsers at MoreVisibility, so our machines host a range of browsers ad web developer tools. Web developer tools are available for most browsers and are indispensable when troubleshooting layout. There is absolutely no way I would be sane, or even still working today, without my trusty Firefox and ie add-ons.

Firefox Add-ons
Firebug: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1843
This fantastic little tool was introduced to me by a colleague, who convinced me to ditch my old trial-and-error ways. With one click inside Firefox, a dialog box pops up within the window, showing the HTML and CSS side by side. You can mouse over an element to bring up its code, and what’s more, CSS styles are shown in hierarchical order, giving you a view of which styles are at the top of the inheritance pile. A great asset when you can’t figure out where that underline is coming from!

Mozilla Web Developer Toolbar: http://chrispederick.com/work/web-developer/
This toolbar isn’t as universally useful as Firebug, but it does pack a host of valuable tools. You can check the actual (not stated) size of an element, use the ruler and generate a great image report with a list of images, their sizes and urls.

Internet Explorer Add-on
There is only 1 proprietary application for ie in this category, and it works for all versions of ie http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/

It combines some of the tools available from both Firefox add-ons. You can view the html, but the CSS panel is often code-bloated or unspecific. There is a ruler, an outline feature, and some image options.

Ie Web Developer is essential in troubleshooting the browser, but even with its aid, you may still need to use your wiles and common sense. Happy Hunting!