File this one under Microsoft usability nightmares. I was visiting one of my W3 standards compliant pages using Internet Explorer 8 to check for cross-browser layout/rendering consistency when I noticed that IE8 served a pop-up. I was not pleased to learn that I could press the compatibility view button to fix problems in pages made for older browsers. The page looked fine to me. What the hell, I’ll click the button.
Naturally, clicking the IE8 compatibility view button destroyed the layout. It wasn’t illegible, but it really no longer looked professional.
How to force a page into IE8’s standards mode
I found this gem to force pages into standards mode
<meta http-equiv=”X-UA-Compatible” content=”IE=EmulateIE8″ />
Works like a charm. No more annoying pop-up.
Consider adding this to any page/site that’s built to W3 specs.
Dan Dreifort 