After installing Internet Explorer 9, I began cross-browser testing the DesignDivine sites. IE9 destroyed the layouts of at least a half of our websites with no discernible or obvious patterns. Large content areas were missing from new and old sites alike. Each of these sites was compatible with IE6, IE7, IE8, FireFox , Chrome and Safari — so the IE9 bomb was really annoying.
First, I began a fruitless investigation into forcing various compatibility modes with little or no effect on the broken display. The various doctype declaration settings didn’t do much either.
Finally, I stumbled on the following fixes:
- Update Cufon-yui.js scripts – this fixed a good percentage of the problems
http://cufon.shoqolate.com/generate/ - Re-order CSS font stacks containing Helvetica
from Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif to Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif
http://simunix.com/wordpress/index.php/2011/03/18/ie9-helvetica-bug/
That took care of most of the critical IE9 bugs, but I still needed to update the following scripts:
- Update to jQuery 1.6.1 – slightly older versions break in IE9
http://jquery.com/ - Update typface.js – this will break just like Cufon
http://typeface.neocracy.org/ - Update Lightbox – old version thows IE9 warnings
http://www.huddletogether.com/projects/lightbox2/
Microsoft is really doing a great job holding back web design and the internet, as per usual. I don’t know enough javascipt to explicitly fault Microsoft for the IE9 script errors, but the number of new errors points heavily in their direction. Furthermore, I do know that the IE9 Helvetica bug is a major flaw which should never have made it past QA testing.
