What does this code snippet mean exactly?

Question

<!--[if lte IE 7]>
..

<![endif]-->

Answer 1

Unsurprisingly, it is a comment processed by IE. If the IE version is at or, less than, the level (LTE) specified, it will process the code inside, otherwise it won't.

Answer 2

It means if the browser in use is less than or equal to Internet Explorer version 7 then include the code within the conditional comment block.

Here a good article about conditional comments

Answer 3

You may want to look at this article about Conditionals. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms537512%28VS.85%29.aspx

You may find this one interesting, at the bottom they go into various possible conditionals: http://onhavinglayout.fwpf-webdesign.de/hack_management/

You will see this comment made about your question in my last link: The linked stylesheet contains the needed layout-triggers for IE 5 | 5.5 | 6 | 7, example shown above.