IE 7 and 8 Issue

[techoveride]

I just got done creating a website for a class and when I open it in IE 8 it looks just like it is supposed to but when I open it in IE 7 it looks all messed up. Is there anything specific I should add to the code to make it look good in IE 7? I was surprised to see it this way I would have expected it to be the other way around.

[wyweb]

Is there anything specific I should add to the code to make it look good in IE 7

Sure. Add this: "IE7=please-work"

Seriously, without seeing your code and just how screwed up it actually is, nobody can tell you what to do.

Browser compatibility is a booger. All you can do is test, test, test. Then when you're finished testing, test some more.

[rocknbil]

LOL @ wyweb, I prefer <meta name="IE-PermaFix" content="Die IE, Die">

when I open it in IE 8 it looks just like it is supposed to but when I open it in IE 7 it looks all messed up.

Here is the first step to cross browser compatibility: Validate your document [validator.w3.org]. You will still have problems in the various flavors of Internet Exploder, but this will move you closer by forcing you to render in Standards Compliance Mode.

Make sure you're using a valid document type [webmasterworld.com] and when you see "hundreds of errors" in the validator, know that many of them cascade - one error can trigger many others, so by fixing one you fix 10 or 20. Read the error description, fix, revalidate until you get a "green light" on the validator. Then try viewing it again.