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XHTML Not Displaying in IE6, 7, 8 or FF3.5.1 - but ok in Firefox 3.0.1.

Answer 1

+2 A:

Having the XML declaration above the DOCTYPE forces IE6 into quirks mode, so that explains why it's not working properly in IE6. I can't speak for the other browsers. It might help to show us some more code.

jimyi 2009-07-21 20:41:30

So... doesn't that invalidate the XHTML?

ScottSEA 2009-07-21 20:44:51

Yep. Unfortunate, but the XML declaration is optional. What happens to the page rendering when you don't include it?

jimyi 2009-07-21 20:48:27

Nothing. Still the same result.

ScottSEA 2009-07-21 21:37:19

Answer 2

+1 A:

Check that you're reporting correct content type in the HTTP response. Should be application/xhtml+xml

ykaganovich 2009-07-21 20:43:36

How do I control this? I am only viewing XML files on the local hard drive, not through a server.

ScottSEA 2009-07-21 20:53:52

hmm thinking about it, I'm not sure if that's correct if you're generating xhtml on the client side. But I guess one thing to try is to pregenerate the XHTML and see if it makes any difference for rendering.

ykaganovich 2009-07-21 20:53:57

Did that - no luck. I tried renaming the file with various extensions (xml, xhtml, html) and got nowhere.

ScottSEA 2009-07-21 21:08:16

IE doesn't understand application/xhtml+xml. Unfortunately, cross-browser support requires serving text/html.

eyelidlessness 2009-07-21 23:42:46

Answer 3

+1 A:

Check that your inline javascript/css is in a CDATA block (and not "commented out")
white border around page: XHTML doesn't treat the "html" element differently. You should set html { background-color: #f5f5f5; }, not body { background-color:#f5f5f5; }
check your content-type. older IEs don't support application/xhtml+xml at all, but want text/html

hhaamu 2009-07-21 20:49:41

Content-type? how do I control that?

ScottSEA 2009-07-21 21:08:48

In this case, it's a server setting. If you're testing files locally, that isn't the problem.

Ben Blank 2009-07-21 23:48:09

Answer 4

+1 A:

The problem, believe it or not, was my title element.

<title />

doesn't work. IE freaks out, loses it's little mind and doesn't display anything.

<title> </title>

cured the problem. Further information: IE is doing just fine having the XML declaration at the top...

ScottSEA 2009-07-21 23:23:40

Yes, that make sense. Your XHTML is being treated as HTML where <title /> means the same as <title>. So everything after <title /> is being treated as part of the page title. This applies to all self closed elements, so you should ensure that only empty elements e.g. meta, br, input hr etc are self-closed in the stylesheet output.

Alohci 2009-07-21 23:29:04

See also: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/637268/is-ie-the-only-web-browser-that-requires-script-script-and-hates-script andhttp://webkit.org/blog/68/understanding-html-xml-and-xhtml/

eyelidlessness 2009-07-21 23:49:05

Regarding the XML declaration, it's not that IE can't read the document with it, it's that it will render in Quirks Mode, which is more or less the IE 5.5 engine. That means your CSS and such will be *wrong*.

eyelidlessness 2009-07-21 23:50:16

The XML declaration still throws IE into quirks mode, which will make it harder (sometimes *much* harder) to make the appearance consistent across browsers. As it's always optional (as per the XML specs), you're better off without it.

Ben Blank 2009-07-21 23:50:17

The fact that <title /> doesn't work but <title>...</title> does means that you're in quirks mode. That means that in order for it to display correctly, you will need to make your CSS and Javascript quirks-mode compliant rather than standard compliant. That means that strictly speaking you are not meeting the requirement "from on high". Don't know if anyone cares though :)

ykaganovich 2009-07-22 05:53:58

"The fact that <title /> doesn't work but <title>...</title> does means that you're in quirks mode." Nope. Quirks vs Standards mode has nothing to do with this. "The XML declaration still throws IE into quirks mode" - This is only true of IE6.

Alohci 2009-07-22 07:53:49

The fact that <title /> doesn't work by <title> ... </title> does means you are in HTML mode not XHTML mode. So you have to write your XHTML in a way that almost conforms with the HTML spec as well as conforming to the XHTML spec. http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml-media-types/ (this is why I stick to HTML 4.01 on the client side - the cost (non-zero) outweighs the benefits (zero))

David Dorward 2009-07-22 08:37:57

@Ykaganovich - I do indeed care very much. I went to great troubles to avoid quirks mode, so I shall definitely be removing the declaration. Thanks to all.

ScottSEA 2009-07-23 21:09:43

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XHTML Not Displaying in IE6, 7, 8 or FF3.5.1 - but ok in Firefox 3.0.1.

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