The Bottom Line
IE 5.5 is a useful tool for testing web pages when you have a customer base that uses this browser, but it is so old now that it is not worth looking for unless you have a specific need. It is very difficult to write modern pages that will work correctly in IE 5.5 and this can cause a lot of frustrations. If you must test on IE 5.5, you would be better off using a testing program like Browsershots to check your pages.
Pros
- Came standard with Windows ME
- Easy to use
- Very forgiving of HTML errors
Cons
- Very forgiving of HTML errors
- No longer supported by Microsoft
- Doesn't support modern technology like Ajax, CSS 3, or advanced XML well
Description
- IE 5.5 came standard with Windows ME and so was very commonly used.
- Very wide spread usage, so if your pages display in this browser most people will be okay.
- Supports most advanced technologies including XML, XHTML, and CSS.
Guide Review - Internet Explorer 5.5 Review
Internet Explorer is a wildly popular browser. This is primarily because it comes default on one of the most commonly used operating systems in the world — Microsoft Windows.
Internet Explorer 5.5 was released for Windows ME in July 2000. Which makes it a very old browser. Most people have upgraded to more modern versions of Internet Explorer that support features like:
- better CSS
- better JavaScript
- and more security
Many designers liked this version of IE because it supported (and was the last version to support) compatibility mode, which means that it could run IE 4 on the same machine at the same time. No future version of IE can run, out of the box, with a previous version still installed.
Review Last Updated: February 25, 2011
