Forcing IE 8’s Developer Tools to be "Browser Mode: IE 8" and "Document Mode: IE 7"

We can force IE 8’s Developer Tools to be “Browser Mode: IE 8” and “Document Mode: IE 7”

So now, is it as if we are using IE 7, or as if we are using IE 8?

The freedom to choose and mix and match is a bit confusing…

What is

[IE 7, IE 8, IE 8 Compat View] x [Quirks, IE 7 Doc, IE 8 Doc]

There are 9 combinations… what does each combination mean?

I’ve heard enough stories about IETester that I’d never trust it… so I’d still keep my native copies and double check everything… I’ve even stopped using the Tredosoft IE’s (except for IE5 testing) because of the small differences I kept getting between the native IE6 and the Tredosoft one (and Tredosoft versions are very good… I’d use them if I had no native 6). So far I’m trusting virtual boxes, but I’m not sure my machine could handle three VBs so easily. Two (on at the same time) seems pretty taxing.

I remember you (or someone) mentioning spoon before, and I checked it out briefly but I don’t remember anything about it anymore. I’ll take another look.

Yes there is… test it in IE7 using one of the many emulators out there like IETester or the Spoon browser installers… they do the job well. :slight_smile:

Browser Mode and Document Mode: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd565628(VS.85).aspx#bdmodes

Testing in Different Browser and Document Modes

Internet Explorer 8 has the ability to render pages and report version information as Internet Explorer 7. Web developers and end users can use this ability to ensure sites continue to work even if not built for Internet Explorer 8, but you can also use it to test how your site will look to Internet Explorer 7 users.
Testing Browser Modes

The Browser Mode menu lets you choose how Internet Explorer should report three important properties:

  • User agent string: The value Internet Explorer sends to Web servers to identify itself.
  • Version vector: The value used when evaluating conditional comments.
  • Document mode: The value used to determine whether Internet Explorer uses the most recent behavior for CSS, DOM, and JScript operations or emulates a previous version of Internet Explorer for compatibility.
       Three [B]Browser Mode[/B] options exist, each modifying  these values in different ways:          
  • Internet Explorer 7: In this mode, Internet Explorer reports a user agent, version vector, and document mode identical to those used by Internet Explorer 7. Use this mode to test how Internet Explorer 7 users experience your site.
  • Internet Explorer 8: In this mode, Internet Explorer reports a user agent, version vector, and document mode to match the default Internet Explorer 8 behavior, which is the most standards-compliant available in Internet Explorer 8. Use this mode if you want to test how Internet Explorer 8 users experience your site.
  • IE8 Compatibility View: In this mode, Internet Explorer 8 reports version vector, document mode, and user agent string as if it is Internet Explorer 7; however, the user agent string also includes a token indicating that the browser is really Internet Explorer 8. Use this mode to test how Internet Explorer 8 users experience your site if they’ve chosen the Compatibility View option.

Testing Document Modes

The Document Mode defines how Internet Explorer renders your page, but has no effect on the version vector or user agent string. By using this option in conjunction with the Browser Mode, you can quickly test which document mode you should use for your site. Three options exist:

  • Quirks Mode: This behavior matches that of Internet Explorer when rendering a document with no doctype or a Quirks doctype. It’s similar to the behavior of Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 and the Quirks mode behavior of Internet Explorer 6, and the same as the Quirks mode of Internet Explorer 7.
  • Internet Explorer 7 Standards Mode: This behavior matches that of Internet Explorer 7 rendering a document with a strict or unknown doctype.
  • Internet Explorer 8 Standards Mode: This behavior is the latest standards-compliant available in Internet Explorer 8, and is the mode used by default in Internet Explorer 8 when rendering a document with a strict or unknown doctype.

IE7 is IE7
IE8 is IE8
IE8 compat view is compatibility view, it makes it render the page almost like IE7 would (though they aren’t the same thing!)

Not sure on what the Doc stands for, blanking here :(.

Man, good question, I never noticed those before. I too am interested to learn… if there’s some better way than “compat mode” in IE8 to “see” how IE7 would render a page, I could test IE8 and IE7 on my one machine (instead of carrying IE8 on a separate machine).

Quirks looks like it does what we would expect it to do: look like IE5 : )