03 · 21

IE8 has Launched, Is Your Website Compatible?

Now that Microsoft has launched, yet another browser, is your website compatible? Me, being a web developer, always hates when Microsoft launches another browser. I have had to mess with 3  browsers (IE 6,7,8) from Microsoft ever since entering the Web World. If you are a web developer you know the pain and suffering these web browsers have given us.

Should I Even Worry about Compatibility in IE8?

You may be asking yourselves this very question. Heck, I have even asked this to myself. We all know that this current economic state is not good and that we can't afford to loose clients for the fact that they use IE. So we have to spend the time and pain to correct minor mistakes (using hacks) on the part of Microsoft that IE has. I am not saying that IE8 couldn't be better than IE7, but merely that IE altogether has a bad reputation of bringing trouble to the development field. So YES, although it will cause much pain and suffering, your website needs to be compatible with IE8.

What Should I Do?

If you have someone take care of your website for you, please contact them and have to make sure that your site is IE8 compatible. They will know what to do. If they dont, I will be more than willing to help, just contact me. If you take care of your own website, here are a few ways that you can check for compatibility:

1. Preferred - Revise site content to support the standards-compliant default view for web pages in Internet Explorer 8

Internet Explorer 8 supports the HTML 4.01 Specification more closely than any previous version and supports some features of the HTML 5 Specification. This release of Internet Explorer also offers full support for CSS 2.1 and supports some popular features of CSS 3.0. For more information on this click here.

2. Alternate - Tell Internet Explorer 8 to display your site in Internet Explorer 7 mode

If you have fixed any issues with your site in IE7 and don't feeling like revisting the pain for IE8, you might decide to take this route. On a per-site basis, add a HTTP header with the following code: X-UA-Compatible: IE=EmulateIE7 On a per-page basis, add a meta tag immediately after the <TITLE> tag and before any other tags with the following code:  <meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=EmulateIE7" /> Again, if you need any help in this process, don't hesitate to contact me. I would love to help in any way. ~ Kyle Reddoch