Microsoft IE Errors

I am not a fan of Microsoft IE. I don't like it at all.

I'm much more of a Firefox/Chrome kind of guy.

But for as infuriating and lame as IE is, it is excellent for showing you problems with your site. Granted, many problems are due to IE's problematic rendering of code, so set those issues aside for a moment. The reality is this: Twice in the recent months, I have come across errors on my page that only IE displayed that proved to be at the code level. In other words: There was a problem with my code, and IE was the only browser to tell me.

For instance, the page looked great in Firefox, Chrome, and Safari, but IE had my text getting smaller and smaller at the bottom of one of my pages. Something like:

Small
^{smaller
smallest}

Once I saw the problem in IE, I instantly knew that I had missed a </sup> tag, and was able to fix the problem in no time. But had I stuck with Firefox only, the problem would still exist.

Someone may object and say: But if the other browsers show what you want, who cares if the code is wrong?

Well: 1. Sloppy/wrong code is not good and can lead to bigger issues. 2. What if, in the future, I actually wanted a dual <sup> tag and the browser wouldn't let me? It quickly becomes problematic when your computer/application starts thinking for you.

So remember: As frustrating as it can be, check your site on IE.

You may just find an error that you wouldn't have seen otherwise.


Of course, you may not. There's still something odd with one my blogs in IE, and I have no idea why.

 ~Luke Holzmann
Your Media Production Mentor