internet explorer - Which engine is used by IE Compatibility View?

Question

I understand that compatibility mode, also called compatibility view will emulate an older version of the IE browser. So in IE9, compatibility view might have rendered similar to IE8.

What I'd like to know is: which exact rendering engine is it using in compatibility mode?

If I make a change in my website, I want to make sure it works in the compatibility mode for IE7,8,9,10..

I am trying to understand: does 8,9,10 compatibility mode use the same rendering mode? Do they all, for example, render as IE7?

Answer 1

Compatibility View emulates the rendering engine used by IE7 in standards mode. The reason for this is because it was introduced in IE8 (where at one point in time it was labeled Emulate IE7).

Note that the version emulated remains the same in IE9 through IE11, since legacy sites that required Compatibility View at the time it was first introduced typically aren't updated to support any later technologies or standards introduced by those subsequent versions.

In addition to this, Compatibility View itself has been deprecated as of IE11. On certain systems (Windows 8.1 and Windows 7), it is being superseded by a different emulation mode called Enterprise Mode, which is an IE8 emulation with improved JavaScript performance, and quite different from the Compatibility View that we're used to.

You can still enable Compatibility View on desktop IE11 for specific sites by following these steps:

To change your Compatibility View settings

1. Open Internet Explorer for the desktop, click Tools, and then click Compatibility View settings.

2. In the Compatibility View Settings box, add the problematic website URL, and then click Add.

3. Compatibility View is turned on for this single website, for this specific computer.

4. Decide if you want your intranet sites displayed using Compatibility View, decide whether to use Microsoft compatibility lists, and then click Close.