How do we know when IE is in Quirk mode?

  • Thread starter Thread starter paul dallaire
  • Start date Start date
Hello Paul,

paul dallaire said:
HI! I would like to know how to tell when IE is in quirk mode or standard
mode.
Click to expand...

Basically it depends whether a doctype specification is included in the html
source or not. You can easily check this by viewing the source and look if a
doctype is present at the beginning:

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Strict//EN">

Here is a complete arcticle which specifies for which doctypes standard mode
is actually switched on:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnie60/html/cssenhancements.asp

As a rule of thumb it is switched on if HTML 4 or higher is specified.

hth

Viktor Krammer
http://www.quero.at/
 
HI! thanks for the reply. the reason why that I need to know if a certain
doctypes is being read correctly by IE. some js scripts do not function
under certain doc types as well as some DW extensions and also other DHTML
menu script programs.

Finding the right doctypes to suit our needs is important and it is useful
to know whether a browser is reading it correctly. I have found a plug in
for Firefox that tells you if the mode is quirk or standard/strict mode by a
small check mark on the toolbar. What I was looking for was a similar tool
for IE.

Paul
 
HI! Quirk mode started a bit like the word BUG in computers when they found
a moth inside a relay which is how the first computers where built.

The word Quirk mode started with Netscape when they found a way of creating
a visual affect by repeating multi background images in the body tag which
in turn created a fade in/out affect or a transition affect.

This is no longer possible because they fixed this issue later in NS,
however the work Quirk stuck. Now when a browser does not conform to the
doctype standard it will switch to a less strict mode ( or none standard
mode) in order to comply with older scripts or technologies.

This is important because some css formatting and other things will not
display correctly as the formatting may be mis read or not read at all. and
new tag/ elements may also not be rendered by the browser.

Paul Dallaire
 
paul said:
HI! thanks for the reply. the reason why that I need to know if a certain
doctypes is being read correctly by IE. some js scripts do not function
under certain doc types as well as some DW extensions and also other DHTML
menu script programs.

Finding the right doctypes to suit our needs is important and it is useful
to know whether a browser is reading it correctly. I have found a plug in
for Firefox that tells you if the mode is quirk or standard/strict mode by a
small check mark on the toolbar. What I was looking for was a similar tool
for IE.
Click to expand...

This may prove useful:

http://www.upsdell.com/BrowserNews/res_doctype.htm#a02
 
HI! Thanks for the response. However I already know the info at the page you
have given me. this is why I have posted that I was looking for a way to
find out when and if IE is in quirk or standard mode when viewing a page
when I am testing different doctypes.

Paul
 
Your welcome :) Here is a link to some official doctypes ( If you don't
already have it ) that are rendered by browser's who comply. There are a few
modes but allot of doctypes for different purposes.

Paul
 
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