Problems With Internet Explorer on a Mac

Internet Explorer is a well used web browser in the PC world, but that is not true for Mac users who also have the choice of using the Safari web browser. Support for Internet Explorer for the Mac has not kept pace with that for PC users. As a result there can be problems using Internet Explorer on a Mac.

History

Internet Explorer for the Mac was created in a deal between Apple and Microsoft to provide a viable and quality web browser for Mac users. When Apple introduced its own web browser, Safari, this signaled that Internet Explorer was to no longer have a special placement for Mac users, and that Apple was moving to take over the web browser that would be used predominantly.

Unable to Select Search Engine

Internet Explorer doesn't make it easy to select a search engine. The Search Pane can be customized but a Search Engine such as Google isn't listed. This is due to Microsoft wanting users to use its own Search Engine.

To get around this and be able to use Google, Internet Explorer must be edited using the software program ResEdit. This is not difficult but is extremely task oriented and might be daunting to the casual user and so avoided. Going to the Google web site and then entering in the search parameters is a way to get around this.

CSS Rendering Problems

Cascading Style Sheets or CSS is a style sheet language that describes the look and formatting of a document written in a markup language--the most common usage for it being to style web pages. Internet Explorer has varied behavior with CSS, with some pages just not rendering correctly or being able to be viewed the way they are intended. Text overflows or the positioning of the text is not where it is supposed to be. Other than just putting up with it, the only other option is to try another page with similar information that might render better.

Prevention/Solution

Trying to use the Microsoft .NET Passport website or the Hotmail Web site with Internet Explorer 5 can bring up a message that the web browser has disabled the "cookies" protocol, even though "cookies" are indeed enabled. This problem can occur if the Mac's system date and time are incorrect. Resolve this by clicking on the Apple menu, then System Preferences, and then Date and Time. Click on the Date & Time tab and see that the Set date & time automatically checkbox is checked. Then close the window, quit Internet Explorer 5 and launch it again.

Download problems

If the download manager doesn't show up, even though you have clicked on a file to download, noting will happen. Make sure that the file exists on the website and that it isn't a problem with the site. If the problem is Internet Explorer, check that you have not downloaded a program that takes over for the download manager or that any of the plug-ins are corrupted. The only plug-ins that Internet Explorer needs to have are those for Quicktime and Shockwave Flash. It might also help to try to install Internet Explorer 5 from scratch and then install just these two plug-ins and then try downloading again.

Security

The latest version of Internet Explorer for the Macintosh is Internet Explorer 5 and was released in 2003. Security issues that have required updates since then are not available and so Internet Explorer 5 could be vulnerable to them. To avoid this, only visit trusted web sites and be careful activating any features on the website that run programs.

Warning

Microsoft is no longer updating or supporting Internet Explorer for the Macintosh. This means that its compatibility with the Mac operating system (OS) will continually decrease over time. Also any new standards that apply to the web and in use by a web browser could be negated through using Internet Explorer.

References

• Internet Explorer for Mac Solution Center
• Mac IE 5 --- problems with css rendering.
• How to make Internet Explorer 5 for Mac OS Classic use Google as its search engine

Resources

• The History of Internet Explorer