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Internet Explorer Updates, And Use Of "Compatibility View" Settings

In 2011, Blogger announced their new browser support policy.
Starting next month Blogger.com will only support modern browsers.

This change, while seemingly dismissive and terse, appears to be necessary. With some browsers, however, a two version (the newest version, plus the version in use right now) support policy will cause problems.

Support for Internet Explorer updates will provide a challenge, for several reasons.
  • Each new version of Internet Explorer includes many changes, which makes the new version extremely incompatible with previous versions.
  • With the scope of the version changes being so broad, it takes Blogger Engineering longer to update Blogger code, to support the new versions.
  • The longer it takes Blogger Engineering to update Blogger to support each new IE version, the more blog owners are likely to accept the new version onto their computers - and to find that they now can’t use Blogger, because it’s not supported.

This month, Blogger Engineering, in addition to preparing for the new year, is trying to upgrade Blogger to support Internet Explorer V11. While they wait for IE V11 to be supported, many blog owners are using the current workaround.
Use "Compatibility View" Settings, and add "blogger.com".
This workaround, used in the past, is responsible for more problems, being seen this week.

Thanks to the aggressive installation of Internet Explorer Version 11, by Microsoft Windows Update, many blog owners are finding problems using Blogger.

Adding to the aggressive installation of IE V11, the Blogger two version support policy creates more problems.
Each time a new version is released, we’ll begin supporting the update and stop supporting the third-oldest version.

This month, as Blogger Engineering upgrades Blogger code to support IE V11, they are apparently dropping support for IE V9. During the previous IE - Blogger upgrade cycle, when IE V10 was pushed onto peoples computers, many blog owners used the same workaround to deal with IE V10 being unsupported by Blogger.
Use "Compatibility View" Setttings, and add "blogger.com".

Right now, many blog owners are still using IE V10 with "Compatibility View" enabled for "blogger.com". Use of IE V10, with "Compatibility View" enabled, appears to leave those blog owners with IE V9 - which is now unsupported.
The compile time user.agent value (ie9) does not match the runtime user.agent value (ie10).

Blog owners still using IE V10, with "Compatibility View" enabled for "blogger.com", need to remove the entry for "blogger.com" - since IE V10 is fully supported by Blogger. This should resolve some problems with using IE V10.

Unfortunately, having removed "blogger.com" from "Compatibility View", some folks have found that IE V10 continues to display as being incompatible.

For the blog owners who cannot use IE V10, even with "Compatibility View" disabled for "blogger.com", they may have to take a step into the deep water, and upgrade to IE V11. If IE V11 is still not supported, use IE V11 with "Compatibility View" enabled for "blogger.com" - which should give you a properly updated V10.

To enable or disable Compatibility View, see Microsoft Windows: Compatibility View.

Alternatively, use Chrome or Firefox, until Blogger can resolve their problems with IE V11, and with IE V10.

(Update April 2014): Blogger is now compatible with Internet Explorer V11 - and now faces a problem with IE V11 using Compatibility View.

Comments

CWMartin said…
Nice to know Blogger IS looking for a solution. It will be good to no longer see that "expect more errors" message.
Marc G. said…
For users with IE11, it looks like switching to "Edge" mode instead of IE10 (Default) on blogger.com will make the popup disappear.
Sarah Raplee said…
As always, you're a lifesaver!
Unknown said…
Great information! Thanks for sharing this, I think this is just what I was looking for :)
I'm still confused, unfortunately. I see that Marc says I should "switch to Edge mode" but I don't know how to do that either. I don't know much of anything about computers (other than how to turn it on and type).
Thanks for sharing this. I will keep trying!
Karen
Nitecruzr said…
Karen,

Keep trying! If you're going to use Internet Explorer, you need - for many reasons - to be familiar with the "Internet Options" wizard.
Unknown said…
Silly question, how do you switch to "compatibility view"?

Thank you!
Nitecruzr said…
Tamara,

Not a silly question, at all. A painful question - and one that I can never remember, either.

The actual Microsoft official term is arcane, and gives no clue where the setting might be found. MHO, given it's importance (if you must use Internet Destructor), it is one of the biggest fsckups since (you name it).

At any rate, Microsoft calls it "Compatibility View".

One of the icons, in the browser address window, will get you into the wizard - and in some cases, one of the menu options does the same.
Nitecruzr said…
Tamara,

Not a silly question, at all. A painful question - and one that I can never remember, either.

The actual Microsoft official term is arcane, and gives no clue where the setting might be found. MHO, given it's importance (if you must use Internet Destructor), it is one of the biggest fsckups since (you name it).

At any rate, Microsoft calls it "Compatibility View".

One of the icons, in the browser address window, will get you into the wizard - and in some cases, one of the menu options does the same.

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