http://acid3.acidtests.org/

Ricardo wrote:

It may eventually depend on how updated is the version used for their test and the one included in IETester.
Anyway, it's useless to try Acid3 using IE.

I think you misunderstand the thrust of my query.

If I am to use IETester as a reliable testing tool for viewing my web pages in multiple versions of IE, then the VERY first thing I need to do is establish that the program does what it says it does -- render pages exactly the same as the real browser would do.

It's not useless to try Acid3 using IE; I couldn't care less what actual score IE gets on Acid3.  What I'm trying to do is make sure that IETester's IE7 gives me the same score on the Acid3 test that the real IE7 would give me.  If I can't trust that, there's no point in my using the tool -- which would be a shame, because I think that if it works as advertised, it would be an awesome thing.

Several things can make some of the Acid3 tests to fail sporadically... including the problems around JScripts in IETester.
Not to mention that IE is not meant to pass Acid3 tests, and can fail some of them sporadically.

Just checking to see if there's been any progress on this fault.

I'd love to use this tool, but I can't do that unless I know with 100% accuracy that it replicates the correct versions of IE.

Fair enough.

Without trying to put any pressure on you, I'd suggest you make this one of your top priorities, because until it's rectified, your product does not do what it's advertised to do.

Allow me to explain:

Your whole product is based around the idea that you can test your site with multiple versions of IE using IETester.  The core of this is the assumption that each version of IE in IETester will render identically to the MS version of IE in the widest possible range of circumstances.  To do this you need to make doubly sure that IETester shows the weaknesses of those browsers.

The Acid tests are written in such a way as to highlight and expose browser weaknesses, in order to drive the developers of those browsers to lift their game and meet the stringent requirements of the Web Standards Project.  But in context, you don't care about the Web Standards -- you want IETester to be as close a match to the real versions of IE as possible.  So the failures of the real versions of IE are a good thing for you, because it gives you a clear baseline for success.  If IETester7 gets 11/100 on Acid3, but IE7 gets 14/100, then you have not yet succeeded.

We could use IETester7 to show a page, but we have no confidence that it looks exactly the same as it would in IE7.

Before anybody criticises me, let me state: I want you to succeed.  I'm a System Quality and Integration tester professionally, and a lot of my work is in cross-browser testing.  Currently I have to run two virtual machines to test in IE6, IE7, and IE8.  Your tool would make my life so much easier in the long run, but it doesn't work at the moment.

If I can help in any way, please let me know.  I know next to nothing about developing browsers, but I do know a thing or two about testing.

Patch

Well... I just tested with a real IE7 on XP SP2.

I get 12/100 !

So, who is right ? Does it depend on the platform ? (IE7 VISTA/IE7 XP) ?