Hey,
My day is ruined as I entered the last phase in designing my Wordpress theme, testing for IE. I have the theme already set up at demo.musamem.net/themepreview/ and it’s fully (nearly) valid XHTML 1.0 strict code. Doctype is in place, proper encoding is used and the code is valid. Despite that, IE still forces compatibility mode (tried that on both IE8 and IE7) and of course, that breaks the design.
Any ideas how to get it into standards mode?
Cheers!
“Nearly valid” is not the same as valid. I’d suggest correcting those couple of errors and trying again.
Okay I fixed all errors. The problem persists, IE won’t forgive. 
You want XHTML on a website you should be using XHTML 1.0 STRICT… which frankly is the most recent W3C recommendation I would even THINK about using on building a page.
Remember, XHTML 1.1 doesn’t even HAVE a backwards compatibility section, which is a hefty part of why not one real website has adopted it for use… and the handful of niche users who have tried generally are in the “we don’t care if it doesn’t work” crowd.
You should probably be including language encodings – not just the lang= and xml:lang= but also the language meta.
given the relatively simple layout I’m wondering what 90% or so of your DIV are even doing in there.
This is unrelated to your issue, but it might be a good idea to smack turdpress upside the head to force out all the bloated garbage they saddle you with for no good reason – like the classes on EVERYTHING and the bandwidth wasting full URL’s on EVERY link.
There was a decent article on doing that recently here on sitepoint.
Which of course wouldn’t be neccessary if the people writing wordpress had the faintest clue how to write HTML/CSS properly.
I also suspect that some of your php is “suspect”/sloppy given the use of single quotes in the output. Probably not causing any issues, but it’s an indication of bad practice (and needlessly complex php coding).
As said in the original post the doctype I initially used was xHTML 1.0 Strict, but I had changed it last night in a series of attempts to get by this issue. It is now restored however.
If it has been for the single quotes and the excessive use of divs (as you’re saying) IE would’ve triggered Compatibility Mode for most of the websites out there. It is a problem with Wordpress that it throws in so many classes but I wonder if you can suggest an alternative that competes with it, or at least has the approval of a standards-aware community of web developers.
Not to go any further off-topic, I am still looking for a logical explanation to this result knowing that I have produced Arabic-language websites before that do not run into problems with IE whatsoever and given that the code for the current website is free of errors and uses xHTML 1.0 Strict doctype.
If someone could point out an actual solution to this I would be very grateful.
Uhm, well if that’s not it… hey, try removing the UTF-8 (aka arabic) characters from your CSS, or adding a charset declaration to it.
A non-character encoding set CSS file can/should only contain the bottom 7 bit’s of the ASCII character set. IE might be choking on that… as a rule of thumb I avoid using anything but ASCII7 in my CSS and .js “just in case”. SHOULDN’T be the cause, but I can’t see a whole lot else it could be.
Other than that I just gave the current version the fine-tooth comb treatment and came up empty… and WOW does IE want to force that into compatibility mode flat out REFUSING to do anything else… I can’t see any other obvious causes – and I went so far as to look at the server’s http headers sent… The only other thing I see is the unnecessary profile string on head, you probably set that when you switched to 1.1 so that’s probably not the problem.
Pretty much I’m guessing wildly here…
I have IE9 and it’s not going in compatibility mode but in standard mode.
You should try and put dir for html also and remove the title content.
One thing I noticed, may be related to your problem: your editor puts only LF at the end of a line instead of the CRLF. Also, since you use XHTML, your style element content should be wrapped in a CDATA comment:
/*<![CDATA[*/
.recentcomments a{display:inline !important;padding:0 !important;margin:0 !important;}
/*]]>*/
Try putting this inside your index.html instead, see if it helps:
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="ar" lang="ar">
<head>
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html;charset=UTF-8" />
<title>
معرض قوالب مصمّم
</title>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />
<meta http-equiv="content-language" content="ar" />
<meta name="generator" content="WordPress" /><!-- leave this for stats please -->
<link rel="stylesheet" href="wp-content/themes/three-col/style.css" type="text/css" media=
"screen" />
<link rel="shortcut icon" href="wp-content/themes/three-col/images/favicon.ico" type=
"image/x-icon" />
<link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS 2.0" href=
"indexd784.html?feed=rss2" />
<link rel="alternate" type="text/xml" title="RSS .92" href="indexcc4d.html?feed=rss" />
<link rel="alternate" type="application/atom+xml" title="Atom 0.3" href=
"index6e0a.html?feed=atom" />
<link rel="pingback" href="xmlrpc.php" />
<link rel='archives' title='فبراير 2011' href='index52f4.html?m=201102' />
<link rel='archives' title='نوفمبر 2010' href='indexa1aa.html?m=201011' />
<link rel='archives' title='أبريل 2009' href='index17e8.html?m=200904' />
<meta name='robots' content='noindex,nofollow' />
<link rel="EditURI" type="application/rsd+xml" title="RSD" href=
"http://demo.musamem.net/themepreview/xmlrpc.php?rsd" />
<link rel="wlwmanifest" type="application/wlwmanifest+xml" href=
"http://demo.musamem.net/themepreview/wp-includes/wlwmanifest.xml" />
<link rel='index' title='معرض قوالب مصمّم' href=
'http://demo.musamem.net/themepreview' />
<meta name="generator" content="WordPress 3.1" />
<style type="text/css">
/*<![CDATA[*/
.recentcomments a{display:inline !important;padding:0 !important;margin:0 !important;}
/*]]>*/
</style>
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html;charset=UTF-8" />
<style type="text/css">
/*<![CDATA[*/
a.c3 {font-size: 22pt;}
a.c2 {font-size: 16.4pt;}
a.c1 {font-size: 8pt;}
/*]]>*/
</style>
</head>
<body>
<div id="wrap">
<div id="header">
<h1>
<a href="http://demo.musamem.net/themepreview">معرض قوالب مصمّم</a>
</h1>تصفّح كل القوالب العربية الأصلية من مصمّم.نت
</div>
<div id="content">
<div class="contentTop"></div>
<div class="contentBottom"></div>
<div id="posts">
<div class="post" id="post-1">
<div class="rightColumn">
<div class="dateBlock">
<div class="day d-22">
22
</div>
<div class="month m-02">
فبراير
</div>
<div class="year y-11">
2011
</div>
</div>
<div class="postmetadata">
<div class="authorInfo">
<img alt='' src=
'http://1.gravatar.com/avatar/71c59d530a3c60d8e3be3f805bcac8b6?s=45&d=http%3A%2F%2F1.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D45&r=G'
class='avatar avatar-45 photo' height='45' width='45' /> عبد الرحمن
جميعي
</div><br />
<div class="metaBlock categorizedUnder">
<div class="bg"></div><a href=
"http://demo.musamem.net/themepreview/?category_name=%d8%ba%d9%8a%d8%b1-%d9%85%d8%b5%d9%86%d9%81"
title="شاهد جميع التدوينات في تصنيف غير مصنف" rel=
"category">غير مصنف</a>
</div>
<div class="metaBlock commentCount">
<div class="bg"></div><a href=
"http://demo.musamem.net/themepreview/?p=1#comments" title=
"التعليق على أهلاً بالعالم!">5</a>
</div>
<div class="metaBlock editPostLink"></div>
</div>
</div>
<h2>
<a href="http://demo.musamem.net/themepreview/?p=1" title=
"أهلاً بالعالم!">أهلاً بالعالم!</a>
</h2>
<div class="entry">
<p>
مرحباً بك في ووردبريس، هذه تدوينتك الأولى،
حررها أو احذفها، ثم ابدأ التدوين !
</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="post" id="post-140">
<div class="rightColumn">
<div class="dateBlock">
<div class="day d-22">
22
</div>
<div class="month m-02">
فبراير
</div>
<div class="year y-11">
2011
</div>
</div>
<div class="postmetadata">
<div class="authorInfo">
<img alt='' src=
'http://1.gravatar.com/avatar/71c59d530a3c60d8e3be3f805bcac8b6?s=45&d=http%3A%2F%2F1.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D45&r=G'
class='avatar avatar-45 photo' height='45' width='45' /> عبد الرحمن
جميعي
</div><br />
<div class="metaBlock categorizedUnder">
<div class="bg"></div><a href=
"http://demo.musamem.net/themepreview/?category_name=science" title=
"شاهد جميع التدوينات في تصنيف علوم" rel=
"category">علوم</a>
</div>
<div class="metaBlock commentCount">
<div class="bg"></div><a href=
"http://demo.musamem.net/themepreview/?p=140#respond" title=
"التعليق على اكتشاف سموم في تربة المريخ تستبعد قيام حياة عليه">0</a>
</div>
<div class="metaBlock editPostLink"></div>
</div>
</div>
<h2>
<a href="http://demo.musamem.net/themepreview/?p=140" title=
"اكتشاف سموم في تربة المريخ تستبعد قيام حياة عليه">
اكتشاف سموم في تربة المريخ تستبعد قيام حياة
عليه</a>
</h2>
<div class="entry">
<p>
اكتشف المسبار فينيكس الذي بعثته وكالة أبحاث
الفضاء والطيران الأمريكية ناسا في مهمة إلى
المريخ لتقييم إمكانية وجود حياة على الكوكب
الأحمر، مادة كيميائية سامة في تربة عند نقطة
هبوطه في منطقة القطب الشمالي، وفق ما أعلن يوم
أمس الاثنين .
</p>
<p>
<a href="http://demo.musamem.net/themepreview/?p=140#more-140" class=
"more-link">اقرأ المزيد&</a>
</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="post" id="post-131">
<div class="rightColumn">
<div class="dateBlock">
<div class="day d-20">
20
</div>
<div class="month m-02">
فبراير
</div>
<div class="year y-11">
2011
</div>
</div>
<div class="postmetadata">
<div class="authorInfo">
<img alt='' src=
'http://1.gravatar.com/avatar/71c59d530a3c60d8e3be3f805bcac8b6?s=45&d=http%3A%2F%2F1.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D45&r=G'
class='avatar avatar-45 photo' height='45' width='45' /> عبد الرحمن
جميعي
</div><br />
<div class="metaBlock categorizedUnder">
<div class="bg"></div><a href=
"http://demo.musamem.net/themepreview/?category_name=cars" title=
"شاهد جميع التدوينات في تصنيف سيارات" rel=
"category">سيارات</a>
</div>
<div class="metaBlock commentCount">
<div class="bg"></div><a href=
"http://demo.musamem.net/themepreview/?p=131#respond" title=
"التعليق على رولز رويس ترفع الستار عن سيارة تعمل بالطاقة الكهربائية">0</a>
</div>
<div class="metaBlock editPostLink"></div>
</div>
</div>
<h2>
<a href="http://demo.musamem.net/themepreview/?p=131" title=
"رولز رويس ترفع الستار عن سيارة تعمل بالطاقة الكهربائية">
رولز رويس ترفع الستار عن سيارة تعمل بالطاقة
الكهربائية</a>
</h2>
<div class="entry">
<p>
قالت شركة رولز رويس لانتاج السيارات الفخمة
إنه سترفع الستار عن نسخة من سيارتها (فانتوم)
تعمل بالطاقة الكهربائية، وذلك في معرض جنيف
السنوي للسيارات الذي سيفتتح الشهر المقبل.
</p>
<p>
<a href="http://demo.musamem.net/themepreview/?p=131#more-131" class=
"more-link">اقرأ المزيد&</a>
</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="paging">
<a href="http://demo.musamem.net/themepreview/?paged=2">أقدم</a>
</div>
</div><!-- end posts div -->
<div id="sidebar">
<ul>
<li id="search-3" class="widget widget_search">
<h1>
بحث
</h1>
<form method="get" id="searchform" action="http://demo.musamem.net/themepreview/">
<div>
<input type="text" value="" name="s" id="s" size="20" /> <input type="submit" id=
"searchsubmit" value="Search" />
</div>
</form>
</li>
<li id="pages-3" class="widget widget_pages">
<h1>
صفحات
</h1>
<ul>
<li class="page_item page-item-73">
<a href="http://demo.musamem.net/themepreview/?page_id=73" title=
"إتصل بي">إتصل بي</a>
</li>
<li class="page_item page-item-2">
<a href="http://demo.musamem.net/themepreview/?page_id=2" title=
"سيرة ذاتية">سيرة ذاتية</a>
</li>
<li class="page_item page-item-145">
<a href="http://demo.musamem.net/themepreview/?page_id=145" title=
"صفحة ١">صفحة ١</a>
</li>
<li class="page_item page-item-147">
<a href="http://demo.musamem.net/themepreview/?page_id=147" title=
"صفحة ٢">صفحة ٢</a>
</li>
<li class="page_item page-item-114">
<a href="http://demo.musamem.net/themepreview/?page_id=114" title=
"عن الموقع">عن الموقع</a>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li id="categories-3" class="widget widget_categories">
<h1>
تصنيفات
</h1>
<ul>
<li class="cat-item cat-item-4">
<a href="http://demo.musamem.net/themepreview/?category_name=tech" title=
"كل ما يتعلق بالتقنية ">تقنية</a>
</li>
<li class="cat-item cat-item-5">
<a href="http://demo.musamem.net/themepreview/?category_name=sports" title=
"كل ما يتعلق بالرياضة">رياضة</a>
</li>
<li class="cat-item cat-item-6">
<a href="http://demo.musamem.net/themepreview/?category_name=cars" title=
"كل ما يتعلق بالسيارات">سيارات</a>
</li>
<li class="cat-item cat-item-7">
<a href="http://demo.musamem.net/themepreview/?category_name=science" title=
"كل ما يتعلق بالعلوم">علوم</a>
</li>
<li class="cat-item cat-item-1">
<a href=
"http://demo.musamem.net/themepreview/?category_name=%d8%ba%d9%8a%d8%b1-%d9%85%d8%b5%d9%86%d9%81"
title=
"شاهد جميع التدوينات في تصنيف غير مصنف">غير
مصنف</a>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li id="recent-comments-3" class="widget widget_recent_comments">
<h1>
أحدث التعليقات
</h1>
<ul id="recentcomments">
<li class="recentcomments">عبد الرحمن جميعي على <a href=
"http://demo.musamem.net/themepreview/?p=1#comment-19">أهلاً
بالعالم!</a>
</li>
<li class="recentcomments">عبد الرحمن جميعي على <a href=
"http://demo.musamem.net/themepreview/?p=1#comment-18">أهلاً
بالعالم!</a>
</li>
<li class="recentcomments">عبد الرحمن جميعي على <a href=
"http://demo.musamem.net/themepreview/?p=1#comment-17">أهلاً
بالعالم!</a>
</li>
<li class="recentcomments">عبد الرحمن جميعي على <a href=
"http://demo.musamem.net/themepreview/?p=1#comment-16">أهلاً
بالعالم!</a>
</li>
<li class="recentcomments">
<a href='http://ar-wp.com/' rel='external nofollow' class=
'url'>ووردبريس</a> على <a href=
"http://demo.musamem.net/themepreview/?p=1#comment-1">أهلاً
بالعالم!</a>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li id="archives-3" class="widget widget_archive">
<h1>
الأرشيف
</h1>
<ul>
<li>
<a href='http://demo.musamem.net/themepreview/?m=201102' title=
'فبراير 2011'>فبراير 2011</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href='http://demo.musamem.net/themepreview/?m=201011' title=
'نوفمبر 2010'>نوفمبر 2010</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href='http://demo.musamem.net/themepreview/?m=200904' title=
'أبريل 2009'>أبريل 2009</a>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div><!-- end content div -->
</div><!-- end wrap div -->
<div id="footer">
<div id="footerMain">
<ul>
<li id="text-2" class="widget widget_text">
<h1>
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
</h1>
<div class="textwidget"></div>
</li>
<li id="meta-3" class="widget widget_meta">
<h1>
منوعات
</h1>
<ul>
<li>
<a href="http://demo.musamem.net/themepreview/wp-login.php">تسجيل
الدخول</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://demo.musamem.net/themepreview/?feed=rss2" title=
"خلاصة آخر التدوينات RSS">خلاصة آخر التدوينات
<abbr title="Really Simple Syndication">RSS</abbr></a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://demo.musamem.net/themepreview/?feed=comments-rss2" title=
"خلاصة آخر التعليقات">خلاصة آخر التعليقات
<abbr title="Really Simple Syndication">RSS</abbr></a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://wordpress.org/" title=
"هذه المدونة تستخدم ووردبريس المعرب، برنامج نشر شخصي.">
WordPress.org</a>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li id="tag_cloud-2" class="widget widget_tag_cloud">
<h1>
وسوم
</h1>
<div class="tagcloud">
<a href=
'http://demo.musamem.net/themepreview/?tag=%d8%a3%d8%ac%d8%b3%d8%a7%d9%85-%d8%ba%d8%b1%d9%8a%d8%a8%d8%a9'
class='tag-link-8 c1' title='1 موضوع'>أجسام غريبة</a> <a href=
'http://demo.musamem.net/themepreview/?tag=%d8%a3%d8%ae%d8%a8%d8%a7%d8%b1' class=
'tag-link-9 c1' title='1 موضوع'>أخبار</a> <a href=
'http://demo.musamem.net/themepreview/?tag=%d8%a7%d8%b5%d8%af%d8%a7%d8%b1' class=
'tag-link-10 c1' title='1 موضوع'>اصدار</a> <a href=
'http://demo.musamem.net/themepreview/?tag=%d8%a7%d9%83%d8%aa%d8%b4%d8%a7%d9%81-%d8%ac%d8%af%d9%8a%d8%af'
class='tag-link-11 c2' title='2 موضوعين'>اكتشاف جديد</a> <a href=
'http://demo.musamem.net/themepreview/?tag=%d8%a7%d9%83%d8%b3%d8%a8%d9%84%d9%88%d8%b1%d8%b1'
class='tag-link-12 c1' title='1 موضوع'>اكسبلورر</a> <a href=
'http://demo.musamem.net/themepreview/?tag=%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%85%d8%b1%d9%8a%d8%ae'
class='tag-link-13 c1' title='1 موضوع'>المريخ</a> <a href=
'http://demo.musamem.net/themepreview/?tag=%d8%a7%d9%86%d8%aa%d8%b1%d9%86%d8%aa-%d8%a7%d9%83%d8%b3%d8%a8%d9%84%d9%88%d8%b1%d8%b1'
class='tag-link-14 c1' title='1 موضوع'>انترنت اكسبلورر</a>
<a href='http://demo.musamem.net/themepreview/?tag=%d8%a7%d9%8a%d8%a8%d8%b3%d9%88%d9%85'
class='tag-link-15 c1' title='1 موضوع'>ايبسوم</a> <a href=
'http://demo.musamem.net/themepreview/?tag=%d8%a8%d9%8a%d8%a6%d8%a9' class=
'tag-link-16 c1' title='1 موضوع'>بيئة</a> <a href=
'http://demo.musamem.net/themepreview/?tag=%d8%aa%d8%ad%d8%af%d9%8a%d8%ab-%d8%ac%d8%af%d9%8a%d8%af'
class='tag-link-17 c1' title='1 موضوع'>تحديث جديد</a> <a href=
'http://demo.musamem.net/themepreview/?tag=%d8%aa%d9%82%d9%86%d9%8a%d8%a9' class=
'tag-link-18 c2' title='2 موضوعين'>تقنية</a> <a href=
'http://demo.musamem.net/themepreview/?tag=%d8%ad%d8%a7%d8%b3%d8%a8-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%8a'
class='tag-link-19 c1' title='1 موضوع'>حاسب الي</a> <a href=
'http://demo.musamem.net/themepreview/?tag=%d8%ad%d9%8a%d8%a7%d8%a9-%d8%b9%d9%84%d9%89-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%85%d8%b1%d9%8a%d8%ae'
class='tag-link-20 c1' title='1 موضوع'>حياة على المريخ</a> <a href=
'http://demo.musamem.net/themepreview/?tag=%d8%af%d9%88%d8%b1%d9%8a-%d8%a5%d9%86%d8%ac%d9%84%d9%8a%d8%b2%d9%8a'
class='tag-link-21 c1' title='1 موضوع'>دوري إنجليزي</a> <a href=
'http://demo.musamem.net/themepreview/?tag=%d8%b1%d9%88%d9%84%d8%b2-%d8%b1%d9%88%d9%8a%d8%b3'
class='tag-link-22 c1' title='1 موضوع'>رولز رويس</a> <a href=
'http://demo.musamem.net/themepreview/?tag=%d8%b1%d9%88%d9%86%d9%8a' class=
'tag-link-23 c1' title='1 موضوع'>روني</a> <a href=
'http://demo.musamem.net/themepreview/?tag=%d8%b1%d9%8a%d8%a7%d8%b6%d8%a9' class=
'tag-link-24 c1' title='1 موضوع'>رياضة</a> <a href=
'http://demo.musamem.net/themepreview/?tag=%d8%b3%d9%85%d9%88%d9%85' class=
'tag-link-25 c1' title='1 موضوع'>سموم</a> <a href=
'http://demo.musamem.net/themepreview/?tag=%d8%b3%d9%8a%d8%a7%d8%b1%d8%a7%d8%aa'
class='tag-link-26 c1' title='1 موضوع'>سيارات</a> <a href=
'http://demo.musamem.net/themepreview/?tag=%d8%b3%d9%8a%d8%aa%d9%8a' class=
'tag-link-27 c1' title='1 موضوع'>سيتي</a> <a href=
'http://demo.musamem.net/themepreview/?tag=%d8%b5%d8%ad%d8%a9' class='tag-link-28 c1'
title='1 موضوع'>صحة</a> <a href=
'http://demo.musamem.net/themepreview/?tag=%d8%b6%d8%ba%d8%b7-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%af%d9%85'
class='tag-link-29 c1' title='1 موضوع'>ضغط الدم</a> <a href=
'http://demo.musamem.net/themepreview/?tag=%d8%b7%d8%a7%d9%82%d8%a9' class=
'tag-link-30 c1' title='1 موضوع'>طاقة</a> <a href=
'http://demo.musamem.net/themepreview/?tag=%d8%b9%d9%84%d8%a7%d8%ac' class=
'tag-link-31 c1' title='1 موضوع'>علاج</a> <a href=
'http://demo.musamem.net/themepreview/?tag=%d8%b9%d9%84%d9%88%d9%85' class=
'tag-link-32 c3' title='3 موضوعات'>علوم</a> <a href=
'http://demo.musamem.net/themepreview/?tag=%d9%81%d8%a7%d9%86%d8%aa%d9%88%d9%85'
class='tag-link-33 c1' title='1 موضوع'>فانتوم</a> <a href=
'http://demo.musamem.net/themepreview/?tag=%d9%81%d8%b6%d8%a7%d8%a1' class=
'tag-link-34 c2' title='2 موضوعين'>فضاء</a> <a href=
'http://demo.musamem.net/themepreview/?tag=%d9%81%d9%88%d8%b2' class='tag-link-35 c1'
title='1 موضوع'>فوز</a> <a href=
'http://demo.musamem.net/themepreview/?tag=%d9%81%d9%8a%d8%af%d9%8a%d9%88' class=
'tag-link-36 c1' title='1 موضوع'>فيديو</a> <a href=
'http://demo.musamem.net/themepreview/?tag=%d9%83%d9%87%d8%b1%d8%a8%d8%a7%d8%a6%d9%8a%d8%a9'
class='tag-link-37 c1' title='1 موضوع'>كهربائية</a> <a href=
'http://demo.musamem.net/themepreview/?tag=%d9%84%d9%88%d8%b1%d9%85' class=
'tag-link-38 c1' title='1 موضوع'>لورم</a> <a href=
'http://demo.musamem.net/themepreview/?tag=%d9%84%d9%88%d8%b1%d9%8a%d9%85' class=
'tag-link-39 c1' title='1 موضوع'>لوريم</a> <a href=
'http://demo.musamem.net/themepreview/?tag=%d9%85%d8%a7%d9%86%d8%b4%d8%b3%d8%aa%d8%b1'
class='tag-link-40 c1' title='1 موضوع'>مانشستر</a> <a href=
'http://demo.musamem.net/themepreview/?tag=%d9%85%d8%ad%d8%b7%d8%a9-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%81%d8%b6%d8%a7%d8%a1-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%af%d9%88%d9%84%d9%8a%d8%a9'
class='tag-link-41 c1' title='1 موضوع'>محطة الفضاء الدولية</a>
<a href=
'http://demo.musamem.net/themepreview/?tag=%d9%86%d8%b3%d8%ae%d8%a9-%d8%aa%d8%ac%d8%b1%d9%8a%d8%a8%d9%8a%d8%a9'
class='tag-link-42 c1' title='1 موضوع'>نسخة تجريبية</a> <a href=
'http://demo.musamem.net/themepreview/?tag=%d9%87%d8%af%d9%81' class='tag-link-43 c1'
title='1 موضوع'>هدف</a> <a href=
'http://demo.musamem.net/themepreview/?tag=%d9%88%d9%8a%d8%a8' class='tag-link-44 c2'
title='2 موضوعين'>ويب</a> <a href=
'http://demo.musamem.net/themepreview/?tag=%d9%8a%d9%88%d9%86%d8%a7%d9%8a%d8%aa%d8%af'
class='tag-link-45 c1' title='1 موضوع'>يونايتد</a>
</div>
</li>
</ul>
<div class="copyright">
<div class="blogNotice">
<p>
ɲ011 <a href="http://demo.musamem.net/themepreview" title=
"معرض قوالب مصمّم">معرض قوالب مصمّم</a>. جميع
الحقوق محفوظة.<br />
<small>القالب من تصميم <a href="http://gemei.me/" title=
"الموقع الشخصي" rel="external nofollow" id="themeAuthorLink" name=
"themeAuthorLink">عبد الرحمن جميعي</a>.</small>
</p>
</div>
<div class="footerLinks">
<a href="http://www.musamem.net/" title=
"مدونة تصميم المواقع ومصدر لقوالب ووردبرس عربية"
rel="external nofollow"><img src=
"http://demo.musamem.net/themepreview/wp-content/themes/three-col/images/musamem.png"
alt=
"مصمم مدونة تصميم المواقع musamem arabic web design development" /></a>
<a href="http://www.wordpress.org/" title=
"الموقع الرسمي لمنصة التدوين ووردبرس" rel=
"external nofollow"><img src=
"http://demo.musamem.net/themepreview/wp-content/themes/three-col/images/wordpress.png"
alt="wordpress" /></a>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</body>
</html>
I think you made a typo and repeated yourself here:
Thanks.
Or don’t have it in the markup at all since it has NO BUSINESS being there in the first place. Get that into the external sheet.
Though I doubt that would be the issue.
The CR/LF vs. LF could be it, but also seems unlikely. That is an old, OLD, OLD problem though in dealing with *nix and RoW.
Okay this is weird. After making fixes as per the discussion thread here, such as removing Arabic characters from the stylesheet, converting all line endings to CRLF and removing title tag content (though restoring it later) I decided to go as far as removing chunks of code from the index.php and see what’s making IE go mad. It appears that after removing the content of the div#footer IE8 finally forgives and jumps out of compatibility mode.
As for the internal styling, it is a Wordpress thing and I have yet to find out what is really causing it to get rid of it but I’m out of focus right now.
Update: It seems that there was a <small> tag inside of a <p> tag in the footer and that’s what IE8 has been choking over since the beginning.
That’s a really wierd one since SMALL is valid in XHTML / HTML 4 and works in IE… Was there anything special about it’s contents or was it unclosed… or … something?
Not that I know of. It was nested correctly, there were no deprecated attributes and it passed the validator. I wonder if IE could be so picky about web standards it wouldn’t have been the horrible browser it is today. 
Thanks to everyone who helped!
The only thing I can still count as culprit would be the font. Maybe, somehow, a combination of Arabic chars, or maybe, the charset it self.
As for the help, you’ve done most of the work But still, it was interesting thread for me.