IE8 compatibility

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1

I have a site that seems fine in all the browsers I’ve tried except IE8 so having searched for a solution thought it easiest to force IE8 into IE7 compatibility mode using:

<meta http-equiv=“X-UA-Compatible” content=“IE=EmulateIE7”>

However this didn’t work so I also added

Header set X-UA-Compatible IE=EmulateIE7

to my .htaccess file.

The problem with this is that it also renders IE9 as IE7 which is not what I want.

I’m thinking of setting the header in PHP if the user agent is IE8 instead of doing it in the .htaccess file but having read several articles I’m not clear why the <meta> tag doesn’t work on its own and if I’m setting the header for IE7 compatibility whether I also need the <meta> tag.

Can any kind soul enlighten me please?

2

I would have thought that, rather than forcing the compatibility level downwards, you should be identifying the issues that prevent the site from working properly in IE8, then look for solutions.

If you can try to isolate the specific code that’s giving problems, there are plenty of people here who can help solve them.

Mike

3

You’re right, of course. Mike. There are so many issues with different versions of IE I thought it would be the best solution but the time I’ve spent on it so far suggests I’m wrong. The website is http://www.william-stewart.com/ and the problem seems to be around

#menu a:after,#menu a:before {
    content: " ";
    display: block;
    position: absolute;
    z-index: 99;
    bottom: 0;
    left: -19px;
    width: 20px;
    height: 20px;
    background: #444;
}
4

Ah yes. Absolute positioning. It’s often given me cross-browser problems as well.

I’m not really expert enought to suggest a solution, but I’m sure somebody else here will. In the meantime, this site might possibly help:

Mike

5

Thanks Mike

Graham :slight_smile: