Html5-boilerplate: Document modes are deprecated starting with IE 11 Preview

Created on 8 Oct 2013 · 6Comments · Source: h5bp/html5-boilerplate

For future reference:

Starting with IE11 Preview, document modes are deprecated and should no longer be used, except on a temporary basis. Make sure to update sites that rely on legacy features and document modes to reflect modern standards.

If you must target a specific document mode so that your site functions while you rework it to support modern standards and features, be aware that you're using a transitional feature, one that may not be available in future versions.

If you currently use the x-ua-compatible header to target a legacy document mode, it's possible your site won't reflect the best experience available with IE11 Preview. For more info, see modern.ie.

Source: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ie/bg182625.aspx#docmode

edit: also relevant to this discussion: https://twitter.com/reybango/status/390911744278663168.

Source

alrra

Most helpful comment

@zulaica

Note that this is functionally equivalent to using the HTML5 doctype.

That would be nice, but unfortunately it doesn’t match reality. There are cases where Internet Explorer triggers compatibility mode even when <!DOCTYPE html> is used, e.g. when the document is loaded through the intranet.

mathiasbynens on 11 Apr 2014

👍2

All 6 comments

So Microsoft breaks backward compability for IE<11 and thinks that it's OK?

marinintim on 13 Feb 2014

All the are asking is the entire world to pay to upgrade their operating system :p—
Sent from Mailbox for iPhone

On Thu, Feb 13, 2014 at 5:42 AM, Tim Marinin [email protected]
wrote:

So Microsoft breaks backward compability for IE<11 and thinks that it's OK?

Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub:
https://github.com/h5bp/html5-boilerplate/issues/1446#issuecomment-34978510

jpdevries on 13 Feb 2014

Is the X-UA-Compatible header/meta tag even necessary?

Use the following value to display the webpage in edge mode, which is the highest standards mode supported by Internet Explorer, from Internet Explorer 6 through IE11.

<meta http-equiv="x-ua-compatible" content="IE=edge" >

Note that this is functionally equivalent to using the HTML5 doctype. It places Internet Explorer into the highest supported document mode. Edge most is most useful for regularly maintained websites that are routinely tested for interoperability between multiple browsers, including Internet Explorer.

Emphasis mine. It appears as though setting the X-UA-Compatible header/meta tag is redundant with an HTML5 doctype.

Source: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj676915(v=vs.85).aspx