Is your site ready for Internet Explorer 8? How to find out and update if not.

  • Article

You may already be aware of this, but if not, Internet Explorer 8 is currently available in beta today. With this new beta version of IE, you may experience one of the following issues when you use the Beta 1 version of Microsoft Internet Explorer 8 to view existing web pages:

  • Misaligned Web page layout
  • Overlapping text or images
  • JavaScript functionality issues and errors

The reason for this is Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 displays Web pages using its latest "Standards mode" by default; whereas, most current Web pages are created and tested to work with Internet Explorer 7 Standards mode.

To confirm that browsing in Internet Explorer 8 Standards mode is the cause of an issue, follow these steps:

  1. Open Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1.
    Note If you do not have Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 installed, you can download it from the Microsoft Web site
  2. Click Emulate IE 7 on the menu bar, and then close the Internet Explorer browser window.
  3. Open Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1, verify that the Emulate IE 7 button is depressed, and then visit the affected Web site.
  4. Make sure that the affected Web site is now displayed correctly.
  5. Click Emulate IE 7 to disable Internet Explorer 7 emulation, and then close the Internet Explorer browser window.
  6. Open Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1, and then visit the affected Web site to confirm that you experience the issues again after disabling Internet Explorer 7 emulation.

HOW TO FIX THIS

(There is a screencast already available by Matt Hester on this topic that I would recommend. You can view it online HERE)

There is a resolution to this issue that you can implement today. To resolve these issues, Web site owners and administrators can add a meta-tag that tells Internet Explorer 8 to display an entire site or a specific page like Internet Explorer 7. That is, the meta-tag causes Internet Explorer to render pages in either Internet Explorer 7 Standards (Strict) mode or in Internet Explorer 5 (Quirks) mode, based on the Doctype element declaration.

Note: Adding the Internet Explorer 7 compatibility tag should address most display issues. However, browser detection may also have to be updated on your site. To learn more, visit this Microsoft Web Page

You can use one of the following options to force Internet Explorer 8 to render Web pages like Internet Explorer 7:

  • Per-site basis

Site owners and administrators can include the following custom HTTP header to force Internet Explorer 8 to render Web pages like Internet Explorer 7:

X-UA-Compatible: IE=EmulateIE7

To add a custom HTTP response header at the Web site level in Internet Information Services 7 on a Windows Server 2008-based computer, follow these steps:

  1. Click Start, click Administrative Tools, and then click Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager.
  2. Under Connections, double-click the server that you want, and then double-click Sites.
  3. Click the Web site where you want to add the custom HTTP response header.
  4. Under Web site name Home, double-click HTTP Response Headers in the IIS section.
    Note In this step, Web site name is the name of the Web site.
  5. Under Actions, click Add.
  6. In the Name box, type X-UA-Compatible.
  7. In the Value box, type IE=EmulateIE7.
  8. Click OK.

To add a custom HTTP response header at the Web site level in Internet Information Services 6 and earlier versions, follow these steps:

  1. Click Start, click Run, type inetmgr.exe, and then click OK.
  2. Expand the server that you want, and then expand Web Sites.
  3. Right-click the Web site that you want, and then click Properties.
  4. Under Custom HTTP headers, click Add.
  5. In the Custom header name box, type X-UA-Compatible.
  6. In the Custom header value box, type IE=EmulateIE7.
  7. Click OK two times.
  • Per-page basis

Site owners and administrators can include the following special HTML tag after the <Head> tag on the page:

<meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=EmulateIE7" />

The following example shows use of this Internet Explorer 7 compatibility mode tag on a per-page basis:

<html> <head> <!-- Use IE7 mode --> <meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=EmulateIE7" /> <title>My Web Page</title> </head> <body> <p>Content goes here.</p> </body> </html>

  • Testing your site with the meta-tag

To verify you have installed the tag correctly on your site, follow these steps:

  1. 1. If you do not have Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 installed, you can download it from this Microsoft Web site
  2. Download the Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 security update that is described in Microsoft Knowledge Base article 951804. This update adds support for the IE=EmulateIE7 tag. For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 951804  MS08-031: Security update for Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1. For more information about the EmulateIE7 tag, visit the IE Blog Web site 
  3. Browse your site in Internet Explorer 8 Standards mode and verify you do not encounter issues described in the "Symptoms" section.
  • End Users

Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 end-users can work around these issues by pressing Emulate IE7 on the menu bar in the browser window. When the Emulate IE7 button is depressed, Web pages will display in Internet Explorer 7 Standards mode.
Microsoft provides programming examples for illustration only, without warranty either expressed or implied. This includes, but is not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. This article assumes that you are familiar with the programming language that is being demonstrated and with the tools that are used to create and to debug procedures. Microsoft support engineers can help explain the functionality of a particular procedure. However, they will not modify these examples to provide added functionality or construct procedures to meet your specific requirements.

You can find out more about IE 8 and this update at the following locations:

Thank you and have a wonderful day,

Eric Ligman
Microsoft Senior Manager, Community Engagement
US Partner Strategy, Marketing and Programs
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights

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