IE 7 and Water & Stone problem?

ckleiman · 08-01-2007, 10:45 PM

Hi all!

Recently installed IE7. Then, I went to my site, which, uses the Water & Stone template. IE7 is doing something causing a #666666 colored partial section to appear. I've outlined in red in the attached screen shot.

Firefox looks ok.

Anybody have any idea(s) how to fix?

If you have IE7 installed my url is www.vityusa.com

ckleiman · 09-01-2007, 03:44 AM

I found solution at Mamboteam and want to share! You just need to put this code on line 1 of the template index.php;



For the full thread discussion on this topic click here;

mamboteam.com

You may need to login. Happy Mambo!

hwang · 14-02-2007, 06:39 AM

Originally Posted by ckleiman

I fixed the IE7 problem another way, but I don't understand this line. This is very strange! It appears to be a comment, not a code is it? How can a comment make any change to the codes? Can anyone have an explanation please? Thanks!

Elpie · 14-02-2007, 09:40 AM

Hi hwang. Yes, I can explain this

You are correct, the line is a comment.

IE6 gave template designers the option to render their sites in either standards mode or what is called quirks mode. Quirks mode is a backwards compatible mode, which means that sites that ran under quirks mode had fewer compatibility problems with older versions of IE.

To trigger quirks mode in IE6 all a designer had to do was to include the xml declaration, eg:

Code:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

In IE7, Microsoft removed the ability for the xml declaration to trigger quirks mode. However, because IE7 is still not Standards-compliant (it is marginally better than IE6 in its handling of Standards and css) many sites still need to trigger this backward compatibility mode.

The only way to force IE7 to render a site in quirks mode, without affecting the way other browsers render a site, is by including a comment between the xml declaration and the doctype.

This is done like this:

Code:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!-- any comment you like will keep IE7 in quirks mode -->
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">

Is this clear so far?
Now, keep in mind the simple rule:

If your template uses the xml declaration, the comment must come AFTER the xml declaration and before the doctype.
If your template is HTML or XHTML sent as text/html and does NOT use the xml declaration, that is - it starts with the doctype being the first line in the template's index.php, then you place a comment above this. So, the comment will then be the first line in your template's index.php, followed by the doctype.

Both ways will tell IE7 to render the site in quirks mode and will reduce the problems caused by incompatibilities.

You can write anything you like in the comment as long as it is a valid comment and is placed into the correct position in your template's index.php file. Just make the comment meaningful so you will remember why you put it there.

hwang · 08-03-2007, 08:46 AM

Thanks a lot, Elpie.
I have been too busy, not frequented here these days....
Cheers!
//hwang

mordeth · 16-04-2007, 04:16 PM

Ok, so I've added this line to the top of my index.php (running 4.5.5) and this does fix the template problem, but now I get the comment itself appearing at the top left corner of the site (on top of the background color). I thought the browser was supposed to ignore the comment as far as this was concerned.

mordeth · 16-04-2007, 04:25 PM

oh man... I somehow missed a couple of characters out of the comment when copying it. fixed now.

09-01-2007, 03:44 AM	#2
ckleiman Mambo Fan Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 59	IE7 problem solved!!! I found solution at Mamboteam and want to share! You just need to put this code on line 1 of the template index.php; <!--IE 7 quirks mode please--> For the full thread discussion on this topic click here; mamboteam.com You may need to login. Happy Mambo!

14-02-2007, 06:39 AM	#3
hwang Mambo Fan Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 98	Originally Posted by ckleiman <!--IE 7 quirks mode please--> I fixed the IE7 problem another way, but I don't understand this line. This is very strange! It appears to be a comment, not a code is it? How can a comment make any change to the codes? Can anyone have an explanation please? Thanks!

14-02-2007, 09:40 AM	#4
Elpie Mambo Guru Forum Admin Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: New Zealand Posts: 10,001	Hi hwang. Yes, I can explain this You are correct, the line is a comment. IE6 gave template designers the option to render their sites in either standards mode or what is called quirks mode. Quirks mode is a backwards compatible mode, which means that sites that ran under quirks mode had fewer compatibility problems with older versions of IE. To trigger quirks mode in IE6 all a designer had to do was to include the xml declaration, eg: Code: <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> In IE7, Microsoft removed the ability for the xml declaration to trigger quirks mode. However, because IE7 is still not Standards-compliant (it is marginally better than IE6 in its handling of Standards and css) many sites still need to trigger this backward compatibility mode. The only way to force IE7 to render a site in quirks mode, without affecting the way other browsers render a site, is by including a comment between the xml declaration and the doctype. This is done like this: Code: <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <!-- any comment you like will keep IE7 in quirks mode --> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> Is this clear so far? Now, keep in mind the simple rule: If your template uses the xml declaration, the comment must come AFTER the xml declaration and before the doctype. If your template is HTML or XHTML sent as text/html and does NOT use the xml declaration, that is - it starts with the doctype being the first line in the template's index.php, then you place a comment above this. So, the comment will then be the first line in your template's index.php, followed by the doctype. Both ways will tell IE7 to render the site in quirks mode and will reduce the problems caused by incompatibilities. You can write anything you like in the comment as long as it is a valid comment and is placed into the correct position in your template's index.php file. Just make the comment meaningful so you will remember why you put it there. __________________ Mambo Tutorials on:http://lynnepope.net/topics/mambo-tutorials Mambo wiki: http://mambo-manual.org/ Follow me: http://twitter.com/elpie

16-04-2007, 04:25 PM	#7
mordeth Mambo Noob Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 2	Re: IE 7 and Water & Stone problem? oh man... I somehow missed a couple of characters out of the comment when copying it. fixed now.

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08-03-2007, 08:46 AM	#5
hwang Mambo Fan Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 98	Thanks a lot, Elpie. I have been too busy, not frequented here these days.... Cheers! //hwang

16-04-2007, 04:16 PM	#6
mordeth Mambo Noob Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 2	Re: IE 7 and Water & Stone problem? Ok, so I've added this line to the top of my index.php (running 4.5.5) and this does fix the template problem, but now I get the comment itself appearing at the top left corner of the site (on top of the background color). I thought the browser was supposed to ignore the comment as far as this was concerned.