How do I force Internet Explorer to render in Standards Mode and NOT in Quirks?

Asked 21/3, 2011 at 5:19 Answered 23/6, 2013 at 7:48

internet-explorer internet-explorer-8 internet-explorer-7 quirks-mode x-ua-compatible

I am coding a Frontend which works well in IE7 Standards Mode and IE8 Standards Mode.

When I start up Internet Explorer and load the page both IE7 and IE8 go to Quirks Mode directly. How can I force both IE7 and IE8 to always load the page in Standards Mode?

I have no special meta tags added so far.

Thanks for helping me out

Edit: My doctype and head looks as follows at the moment:

<!DOCTYPE html> 
<html lang="de"> 
<head> 
    <title>...</title> 
    <meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=edge" />
    <meta charset="utf-8" />
    <script src="js/html5.js"></script> 

    (...)
</head>

Amanita answered 21/3, 2011 at 5:19 Comment(4)

I know I'm late to the party, but here's a quick note: if you set the render mode in the IE developer tools, that mode will stick next time you load the page. So, if you choose Quirks Mode, it'll stick with that mode until you change it manually or close the tab. So, enjoy. – Ignescent 27/8, 2011 at 20:0

Matchu, your comment was invaluable to me. By manually setting the render mode I was completely messing up my testing! Thank you! :) – Braunschweig 21/2, 2013 at 15:11

Unless you use a http header it won't always work https://mcmap.net/q/269807/-how-do-i-force-internet-explorer-to-render-in-standards-mode-and-not-in-quirks – Modesta 23/6, 2013 at 7:49

It's really simple: Determining IE 9’s Document Mode – Crowbar 9/9, 2013 at 21:0

This is the way to be absolutely certain :

<!doctype html> <!-- html5 -->
<html lang="en"> <!-- lang="xx" is allowed, but NO xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml", lang:xml="", and so on -->
<head>
<meta http-equiv="x-ua-compatible" content="IE=Edge"/> 
<!-- as the **very** first line just after head-->
..
</head>

Reason :
Whenever IE meets anything that conflicts, it turns back to "IE 7 standards mode", ignoring the x-ua-compatible.

(I know this is an answer to a very old question, but I have struggled with this myself, and above scheme is the correct answer. It works all the way, everytime)

Ratoon answered 22/11, 2012 at 20:13 Comment(11)

@Sameer Alibhai, off course! It is so implied that I forgot it ;-) now corrected . – Ratoon 23/1, 2013 at 9:34

This is unfortunately not correct, a web server on the local network will still enable quirks mode when you have all this stuff. It's also IE=edge, not just Edge in the content of the meta tag. – Oddment 1/2, 2013 at 9:21

You are right about the IE=Edge, again, was written by hand :-( But you are NOT right, this is the solution. You have to decalre the x-ua-compatible as the very first line. – Ratoon 1/2, 2013 at 10:5

@davidkonrad: so where does lang info and ie-specific classes go then? My html at the moment looks like this (example IE8): <html class="ie ie8 ie_old" lang="it-IT"> Sorry, cannot comment to last answer, don't have the necessary reputation yet... – Timehonored 1/2, 2013 at 16:21

@Ratoon You are allowed to have a lang attribute on your html tag, and also have a compatible meta tag! – Jimmy 21/5, 2013 at 13:12

@NULL, The question here is not what there is allowed, but how you prevent IE to change its rendering modes. Those two issues is not nessecarily connected. It is allowed to have script, for instance, but if you have a script-tag before ..x-ua-compatible, IE doesnt follow the instruction. Sad you are downvoting this, because you are p**** off elsewere. – Ratoon 21/5, 2013 at 13:20

I downvote because of your comment:  witch is clearly wrong. If you wan't to tell OP about removing xmlns it should be because it doesn't belong in html5.... Belong is a very fragile word to use but you can search google if you want to know more about it. – Jimmy 21/5, 2013 at 13:24

Using a doctype + <html lang=en> shouldn't cause a problem. – Crowbar 9/9, 2013 at 21:9

@sam, "should't" is a big word when it comes to IE :) I just inform what I finally figured out worked all the time in all modern IE's - 7, ,8 ,9 10, xx - on various windows-platforms, XP, vista, 7, 8, any combination of "modes"-settings and so on. It was very critical to me at that moment. Better safe than sorry. I know the official docs says, that <html lang="xx"> is completely legal, but I stick to my solution. It has never failed, and that lang tag is not nessecary anyway. So far none had complaint, but only upvoted - the only complains are those who stick to some rules in a doc. – Ratoon 9/9, 2013 at 21:35

I understand but I meant that, AFAIK, lang or other html attributes won't make a difference to IE. :) I think doctype + x-ua-compatible is enough to make your example work. – Crowbar 8/10, 2013 at 1:27

Had a problem just today with a Website being completely destroyed in IE9 for no obvious reasons. Removing all attributes from the html tag did the trick! Thank you a thousand times, was stuck for almost 2 hours already trying everything I could imaging! – Rugen 13/7, 2015 at 13:10

Sadly, they want us to use a tag to let their browser know what to do. Look at this documentation, it tell us to use:

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

and it should do.

Sherwood answered 21/3, 2011 at 5:22 Comment(4)

This won't kick it out of quirks-mode or into quirks-mode but will only change the "emulation mode". IE6 can run in non-quirks mode (although that doesn't mean it isn't very quirky!). – Shardashare 21/3, 2011 at 5:29

If should force the thing to load in standards mode. – Sherwood 21/3, 2011 at 5:33

This works for IE8. However, IE7 still goes to quirks mode first. – Amanita 21/3, 2011 at 5:35

IE7 is a real pain. Good to know that behavior you tell us, maze. – Sherwood 21/3, 2011 at 5:36

Using html5 doctype at the beginning of the page.

<!DOCTYPE html>
Force IE to use the latest render mode

<meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=edge">
If your target browser is ie8, then check your compatible settings in IE8

I blog this in details

Mcgruter answered 14/9, 2012 at 9:13 Comment(0)

Adding the correct doctype declaration and avoiding the XML prolog should be enough to avoid quirks mode.

Arjan answered 21/3, 2011 at 5:27 Comment(3)

This is the right way to achieve the thing, must say. Somehow, one don't know with IE... – Sherwood 21/3, 2011 at 5:34

This doesn't work with IE if you're running your web server on the local network :-( – Oddment 1/2, 2013 at 9:19

This link to wikipedia quirks mode, saved my day. I was struggling with it last 2 days and really didn't know what is happening with me in IE. But I wonder that when I used to enforce my IE to Standard Mode it appears as Document Mode: IE7 standards. How can I enforce it to IE9 Standard – Troublemaker 24/7, 2017 at 11:16

I know this question was asked over 2 years ago but no one has mentioned this yet.

The best method is to use a http header

Adding the meta tag to the head doesn't always work because IE might have determined the mode before it's read. The best way to make sure IE always uses standards mode is to use a custom http header.

Header:

name: X-UA-Compatible  
value: IE=edge

For example in a .NET application you could put this in the web.config file.

<system.webServer>
    <httpProtocol>
      <customHeaders>
        <add name="X-UA-Compatible" value="IE=edge" />
      </customHeaders>
    </httpProtocol>
</system.webServer>

Modesta answered 23/6, 2013 at 7:48 Comment(2)

Not the best one, since MS states that "If both [meta and header] of these instructions are sent, the developer's preference (meta element) takes precedence over the web server setting (HTTP header)." msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff955275%28v=vs.85%29.aspx – Attempt 11/4, 2014 at 16:32

However you have to be careful because IE can decide the X-UA-Compatible value before reaching your Meta tag. That's why the header is still the best approach. – Modesta 17/4, 2014 at 5:34

It's possible that the HTML5 Doctype is causing you problems with those older browsers. It could also be down to something funky related to the HTML5 shiv.

You could try switching to one of the XHTML doctypes and changing your markup accordingly, at least temporarily. This might allow you to narrow the problem down.

Is your design breaking when those IEs switch to quirks mode? If it's your CSS causing things to display strangely, it might be worth working on the CSS so the site looks the same even when the browsers switch modes.

Arjan answered 22/3, 2011 at 18:18 Comment(1)

The HTML5 doctype was designed to put all browsers into standards mode. – Oddment 1/2, 2013 at 9:20

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