IE Only sites?

[msw123307]

Any way to access these using a Mac? I've run across a few web sites that just say "INTERNET EXPLORER ONLY" and I can't access them from Safari or Firefox. Is there a solution to this?? Seems kinda backwards..

 

[dmmcintyre3]

What are they?

 

[msw123307]

I don't have an address with me at the moment. Primarily business/collaboration sites. I just think the companies made them for IE Only and have probably never updated since.

 

[angelwatt]

Generally those sites require a browser which has ActiveX and so means you have to use IE. Best bet is setting up Parallels or another virtual machine to run Windows and thus IE. It's an unfortunate situation and my company does the same with their legacy web site applications. You can complain to them, but don't expect results.

 

[MarkMS]

I've had some sites do that to me. If they use ActiveX, then the only way is to run Windows. Just as angelwatt said, either use a virtual machine (Parallels or VMware Fusion) or Bootcamp with Windows.

Now some (actually very few) sites do this because they haven't undergone further testing with other browsers. Had to take a few practice tests online and they wouldn't let me log in unless I had IE. So all I did was change the user agent in Safari. It worked flawlessly at the end.

So if this happens to you and you know it's not ActiveX, just go to Safari>Preferences>Advanced Tab>tick the "Show Develop Menu in menu bar". When the time comes, just click on Develop on the menu bar>User Agent> then whichever browser they are asking for.

 

[MTI]

What are they?

Microsoft Windows Update . . . for one. 😀

 

[msw123307]

I've had some sites do that to me. If they use ActiveX, then the only way is to run Windows. Just as angelwatt said, either use a virtual machine (Parallels or VMware Fusion) or Bootcamp with Windows.

Now some (actually very few) sites do this because they haven't undergone further testing with other browsers. Had to take a few practice tests online and they wouldn't let me log in unless I had IE. So all I did was change the user agent in Safari. It worked flawlessly at the end.

So if this happens to you and you know it's not ActiveX, just go to Safari>Preferences>Advanced Tab>tick the "Show Develop Menu in menu bar". When the time comes, just click on Develop on the menu bar>User Agent> then whichever browser they are asking for.

Thanks. This has somewhat worked for me, although it's pretty slow loading. But better than having to switch to a PC. Do you know which version of IE would be best? I selected the latest version, hoping for fast loading, but it was pretty slow.

Also, with regard to the develop bar. Once I change the agent to IE, do I have to change it back if I surf to a different web page? How does that work? It would be nice if Safari knew when you surfed to a new page away from the previous domain, and switched back to Safari 4...

 

[angelwatt]

Also, with regard to the develop bar. Once I change the agent to IE, do I have to change it back if I surf to a different web page? How does that work? It would be nice if Safari knew when you surfed to a new page away from the previous domain, and switched back to Safari 4...

Changing the user-agent only changes a string value that some web sites check for to determine how they may want to present the page to the user. Changing the user agent doesn't change the way the browser will render the web page though unless the site was developed to do so under certain user-agents.

You will need to change the user-agent back manually, but forgetting to do so won't hurt anything except a web site's stats will think you are IE and not Safari, but not a big deal.