IE8 - different display between local file and online

[tedster]

I've never run into this particular browser bug before, so I though it would be good to mention it to the community here. I have a page that's been online for about a month. Someone reported to me that in IE8 one line of text was an incorrect color.

I checked my local file and it looked fine, but when I checked the page online, sure enough instead of being gold, the line was black -- nearly invisible against the background image. Clicking on the Compatibility View icon did fix it. That's small comfort, however.

The problem appears to be deep in the CSS specificity, but after 10 minutes of detective work, I just couldn't be bothered to investigate any further. I slapped a span tag around the line and forced IE8 to use the color I intended.

The HTML and CSS both validate and every other browser (including earlier versions of IE) got the display right.

So I've learned another IE lesson - always proof my work online, not just locally.

[kaled]

Just a couple of thoughts...

1) Is it possible that a CSS file hasn't been updated online?
2) Is it possible that a CSS file has been linked with a '\' instead of a '/' in the url (and is therefore being ignored)?

Assuming you aren't doing anything on the page with javascript (or Active X controls) I would not expect rendering to be different offline. I know IE is buggy but that really would be odd.

Kaled.

[encyclo]

IE8 displays all "intranet sites" in Compatibility View by default - so how were you viewing your file "locally"?

You should go to the Compatibility View Settings page, and untick the option "Display intranet sites in Compatibility View" and see if that makes a difference.

[tedster]

Thanks for that idea, encyclo. However, I double-checked and I had un-checked that box long ago - right when IE8 was released, as I remember.

I'm sure the problem does involve some complexity in or around Compatibility View, but honestly, how much IE minutiae can one person bother with?

I am doubly happy for the reminder, however, because I'm about to set up a new laptop and now I'll be sure to make that tweak.