why am I triggering quirks mode in IE8?

Question

I\'m working on a page that, when I load into IE8 and view the developers tools it tells me that page default is quirks mode.

I\'ve got a strict DTD:

Answer 1

Does IE decide on which mode to use at a server level

Not generally, no. There is the ugliness of the compatibility view list, which is site-specific, but that only kicks you back to IE7-style-Standards Mode, not IE5.5-style-Quirks-Mode.

Your code otherwise looks OK, as long as that DOCTYPE is the very first thing on the page. IE will be forced to document.compatMode= 'BackCompat' if there is a comment, PI, XML declaration (prior to IE8) or any non-whitespace textual content before the doctype. If a control character has snuck in that you can't see in your text editor, that could do it.

Example problem page?