Weird ie11 issue

Phreaddee

Super Moderator
Staff member
Hey Guys,

I have a strange issue and I would like to see if anyone else is having or experienced.

I've built a site for a client, with a simple responsive layout. However, save for ie8 and below looking like a dogs breakfast we've set up a simple redirect to an upgrade page.

Code:
<!--[if lte IE 8 ]>
    <script >
        window.location.href = "/upgrade";
    </script>
<![endif]-->

all fairly straightforward. however, I just got off the phone with them and "apparently" they upgraded to ie11 (windows 7 machine) and yet are still seeing this redirect?!?

I was under the impression that CC in ie11 were not functional in any way and ignored by the browser
even more so, this should only affect ie8 and below yet(!) it appears my client is using ie11 and seeing this message.

I need to respond to them soonish, but alas, I've got nothing. it simply should not be doing that.

anyone?
 

chrishirst

Well-Known Member
Staff member
I was under the impression that CC in ie11 were not functional in any way and ignored by the browser

Depending of course on what the content attribute of the meta X-UA-Compatible directive is, should it exist. Plus, I have long since considered the;

"Your browser is crap, you dullard"

script, very arrogant, apologist behaviour, and not the kind of thing to do when the visitor didn't actually ask that question AND you quite probably are hoping to sell something to them. Redirect them by all means but direct them to a lower spec' page that doesn't claim that you know better than they do, and while in this case you probably do that is not why they visited your page(s). You probably would not dream of redirecting "small screen size" browsers to a URL that said; "Go use a proper computer instead" any more or having the "Best viewed in 1024x768" footer note that was very prevalent "back in the day".

Although I did have a "Best viewed from about 3' 6"!" at the bottom of the pages on one of my own 'hobby' sites at one time.
 

Phreaddee

Super Moderator
Staff member
Each to their own on the what and why of where the redirect goes and the ethics behind it.

the question was merely one of a technical nature, and I was just wondering why ie11 would behave like that.
 

chrishirst

Well-Known Member
Staff member
the question was merely one of a technical nature, and I was just wondering why ie11 would behave like that.
Yep, that was in the first bit of my opening sentence.

As for the rest, as I recall, you have said in replies to other that sometimes the case is that users have no choice in what browser they use, so the latter part of the post is more for people who think that this kind of redirect is a 'good' idea in ALL cases. You personally are competent enough to comprehend the difference, the greater "you" [meaning all other readers of the forum] are probably not.

So, for the greater 'you';
Redirecting when on a personal website to an "Update your browser, 'nag' page" is somewhat more acceptable and nagging users on a page where you are demonstrating a concept that will not work in anything but the 'bleeding edge' of browser technology is more often perfectly correct. However if the page, or the entire website is commercial in any way, you really should think long and hard before taking the 'nagging' route, as you are quite probably missing a customer, and unlike buses, there may not be another one right behind.
 

chrishirst

Well-Known Member
Staff member
Which could most likely be the problem I would suggest, "Edge" document mode was introduced for IE8

Edge mode tells Internet Explorer to display content in the highest mode available. With Internet Explorer 8, this is equivalent to IE8 mode. If a (hypothetical) future release of Internet Explorer supported a higher compatibility mode, pages set to edge mode would appear in the highest mode supported by that version. Those same pages would still appear in IE8 mode when viewed with Internet Explorer 8.

Despite what that says, there is every chance that IE11 in 'Edge' document mode behave as if it were IE8, or something which does support 'conditional comments'.
It wouldn't be the first time M$ have got it wrong, and they have tried to cover their backsides with adding "if a (hypothetical) future release"

Try without that directive and see what happens then, (I can't check my own hypothesis, due to being entirely Micro$haft free)
 
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