When Internet Explorer 8 released, Microsoft built a great feature called Compatibility Mode. Because IE8 was so new, older websites didn't look quite right in IE8. Compatibility Mode enabled people to fix how some older webpages rendered in the newer version of IE.
Compatibility Mode toggles older browser rendering rules, which made sense when IE8 was hot off the press.
Fast forward to today when IE11 exists. Now most page designs have caught up to or surpassed Internet Explorer rendering capabilities. As a result, Compatibility Mode breaks more design elements than it fixes.
We recommend turning off Compatibility Mode to avoid any display issues.
For Windows 10
Sometimes websites don't look like you expect them to—images might not appear, menus might be out of place, and text could be jumbled together. This might be caused by a compatibility problem between Internet Explorer and the site you're on. Sometimes this can be fixed by adding the site to your Compatibility View list.
To add a site to the Compatibility View list
- Open Internet Explorer, select the Tools button , and then select Compatibility View settings.
- Under Add this website, enter the URL of the site you want to add to the list, and then select Add.
If you add a site to the Compatibility View list and the page looks worse, the problem might not be compatibility and you should remove the site from the list.
Once you turn on Compatibility View, Internet Explorer will automatically show that site in Compatibility View each time you visit. You can turn it off by removing the site from your compatibility list. Not all website display problems are caused by browser incompatibility. Interrupted Internet connections, heavy traffic, or problems with the website can also affect how a page is displayed.
For Windows 7
When a site is incompatible with Internet Explorer 11 for Windows 7, you'll see the Compatibility View button in the address bar. By turning on Compatibility View, you can help fix display problems on sites.
To turn on Compatibility View
- See if the Compatibility View button appears in the address bar. (If you don't see the button, there's no need to turn on Compatibility View.)
- Select the Compatibility View button to display the site in Compatibility View.
To clear the list of Compatibility View sites
- Open Internet Explorer, select the Tools button , and then select Internet options.
- Under Browsing history, select Delete.
- In the Delete Browsing History dialog box, select the History check box, and then select Delete.