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Home Forums Other Possible to force IE8 into IE9 mode? (x-ua-compatible)

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  • #156213
    caspian
    Participant

    In short: Is it possible to force or trick IE8 to display something in IE9 mode using the x-ua-compatible tag or something similar?

    I spent a couple days looking into this but so far haven’t found a definite answer so I thought I’d turn to you guys. I built something that works fine in IE9+ (and all the other browsers) but I’m in the classic situation where most of my company’s user base is still on IE8. I’d prefer not rewrite the thing into an IE8-compatible version due to time constraints and was wondering if I could just use the “x-ua-compatible” thingy to force anyone on IE8 to view mode. I know it’s possible to go backward, but just not sure if you can force a browser “forward.”

    I’m using this particular script and it’s not displaying properly in IE8 compatibility view: http://kumailht.com/gridforms/

    edit: i should probably add that I can’t find a computer with IE8 to test it out. Also, this is one of those times when I find myself daydreaming about Microsoft HQ getting hit by an asteroid.

    Thanks for your help!

    #156216
    Senff
    Participant

    No. You can use polyfills to make make IE8 understand some modern code, but you can’t just tell IE8 to behave as IE9.

    If you knew your users were largerly on IE8, you should have coded the site with that in the back of your mind instead of going too modern first and try to fix it later.

    #156221
    caspian
    Participant

    Thanks for the info about polyfills.

    And regarding your comment about process, Oh, if only life were that simple…

    #156226
    __
    Participant

    Oh, if only life were that simple…

    could be, next time. : )

    #156219
    __
    Participant

    Have you seen the note on the gridforms github page? He recommends using respond.js for IE8 compatibility.

    Is it possible to force or trick IE8 to display something in IE9 mode

    The key issue here is that IE8 doesn’t have an “IE9” mode. There’s nothing magical about Compatibility Modes – newer versions of IE simply have all of the old Trident stuff in them, and you can switch them on or off. How could you expect IE8 to know IE9 even exists?

    i should probably add that I can’t find a computer with IE8 to test it out.

    You can get free Windows+IE VM‘s from Microsoft for testing purposes (instructions).

    Sites like BrowserStack are a decent solution as well.

    #156316
    caspian
    Participant

    Have you seen the note on the gridforms github page? He recommends using respond.js for IE8 compatibility.>

    Yep, tried it. It doesn’t seem to be fixing all the issues I’m seeing.

    How could you expect IE8 to know IE9 even exists?>

    Because MS has actually been paying attention to the browser space the last couple of years and I was hoping against hope that maybe they’d retrofitted some features that could do something like that?

    As indicated, I don’t understand how Compatibility View works. I had previously used one app at a contract that installed all versions of IE all the way back to 7 and was able to test things out that way, but can’t remember the name and none of my coworkers know anything about it.

    I’ll try out that Vm, thanks. But I can’t use Browser Stacks because the pages aren’t deployed on a server that BrowserStacks can access.

    Anyway, thanks for the suggestions. After reading the response from that first guy, who chose to devote most of it to a patronizing lecture about process without knowing the political situation and feature creep that I’m dealing with, I was beginning to wonder if this place was any use. Seems most web developers are on some kind of permanent mission to prove they know more than you, know what I mean? Another reason I’m working on a career change out of this idiotic field.

    #156323
    Senff
    Participant

    After reading the response from that first guy, who chose to devote most of it to a patronizing lecture about process without knowing the political situation and feature creep that I’m dealing with, I was beginning to wonder if this place was any use. Seems most web developers are on some kind of permanent mission to prove they know more than you, know what I mean? Another reason I’m working on a career change out of this idiotic field.

    You really thought my answer was a lecture or that I’m on a mission? My apologies, but from my understanding, when you ask a question, by definition you’re exactly asking for help from people who know more than you on that matter (unless you want help from people who know less than you…which probably won’t help you further with the issue you’re having trouble with).

    Good luck with the career change.

    #156324
    caspian
    Participant

    You really thought my answer was a lecture

    If you knew your users were largerly on IE8, you should have coded the site with that in the back of your mind instead of going too modern first and try to fix it later.

    “You should have…” “going too modern”… Sure comes across that way.

    I did thank you for the polyfills suggestion. Out of consideration for that, I didn’t mention that I’d already known about it and tried it.

    Thanks, I’ll be glad to get out of this profession.

    #156332
    __
    Participant

    I posted this before seeing the last two responses. I actually commented on the issue about halfway down.

    Yep, tried it. It doesn’t seem to be fixing all the issues I’m seeing.

    Sorry to hear it. Does the example page (the page you linked to) work on IE8? If so, then it’s a problem with you implementation.

    I’ll see if I have some time in the next few days to try and check this out.

    As indicated, I don’t understand how Compatibility View works…

    Basically, compatibility view is all about backwards-compatibility. MS wants to build better browsers, but also doesn’t want to look like they’re “breaking” all of the existing sites that rely on IE getting things wrong.

    All it is is a way of “opting-out” of the things they’ve fixed. So if, for example, your site was designed for IE7 and is a huge mess in IE9, you can tell IE9 that you liked all those broken features and please don’t fix them.

    … I can’t use Browser Stacks because the pages aren’t deployed on a server that BrowserStacks can access.

    Browserstack does allow testing local files, even if you aren’t running a local server. (Not pushing this, just saying that it is possible.)

    After reading the response from that first guy, who chose to devote most of it to a patronizing lecture about process without knowing the political situation and feature creep that I’m dealing with …

    Do you mean @Senff? His response was actually quite helpful. In some situations, starting over from scratch takes less effort than trying to “backport” an existing solution. And it is certainly good advice for future projects.

    As for the politics, right, we don’t know about that. But, by that same token, you can’t expect us to be sensitive to an issue we aren’t aware of.

    Feature Creep is something everyone has to deal with. Are you a contractor, or an employee? If you’re a contractor, you should have details like this in your contract. That’s less practical as an employee, but in this case, it would be best to bring up the issue as soon as possible (knowing that most of the company still uses IE8) and get a firm answer from your boss.

    Seems most web developers are on some kind of permanent mission to prove they know more than you, know what I mean?

    Yes, and there are definitely people like that in this field. In any field. Plus, we’re on the internet.

    But there are also many times where this is not actually the case. Consider that much of what looks like rudeness is not intended to give offense, but simply to address questions clearly and directly. Sometimes the answer you’re looking for is not actually the answer you need, and people really are being helpful by pointing that out.

    On good forums (and this is a good one), real rudeness is called out and quashed by the mods and/or other members. If you really are unhappy in this field, then I would encourage you to switch tracks. But if you enjoy it, don’t give up. : )

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