Older Versions Of Internet Explorer Reach End Of Support January 12, 2016 - Part 2
In Part 1 I highlighted some of the resources that focus on End Of Support for older versions of Internet Explorer, in this post I'll focus on some of the compatibility and migration resources that are available.
Tips and tricks to manage Internet Explorer compatibility
This article focuses on how to leverage the Enterprise Mode Site List for better backwards compatibility with legacy web apps that may have kept earlier versions of IE deployed. The general guidance is of course to upgrade to Internet Explorer 11 on versions of Windows that on the desktop and server that support it, but the article gives some advice on how to approach things depending on whether you are currently on IE 8, 9 or 10.
Enterprise Mode is a compatibility mode that runs on Internet Explorer 11 on Windows 8.1 Update and Windows 7 devices, lets websites render using a modified browser configuration that’s designed to emulate either Windows Internet Explorer 7 or Windows Internet Explorer 8, avoiding the common compatibility problems associated with web apps written and tested on older versions of Internet Explorer.
Turn on Enterprise Mode and use a site list
Before you can use a site list with Enterprise Mode, you need to turn the functionality on and set up the system for centralized control. By allowing centralized control, you can create one global list of websites that render using Enterprise Mode. Approximately 65 seconds after Internet Explorer 11 starts, it looks for a properly formatted site list. If a new site list if found, with a different version number than the active list, IE11 loads and uses the newer version. After the initial check, IE11 won’t look for an updated list again until you restart the browser.
Enterprise Mode Site List Manager for Windows 7 and Windows 8.1
This tool lets IT Professionals create and update the Enterprise Mode Site List in the version 1.0 (v.1) XML schema. The v.1 Enterprise Mode XML schema is supported on Windows 7, Windows 8.1, and Windows 10.
Internet Explorer 11 (IE11) - Deployment Guide for IT Pros
Use this guide to learn about the several options and processes you'll need to consider while you're planning for, deploying, and customizing Internet Explorer 11 for your customer's and employee's computers.
This page has five main categories for resources related to Explore, Plan, Deploy, Manage and Support stages of IE 11 assessment and deployment.
Web Application Compatibility Lab Kit
This lab includes two options, a lite version, weighing in at 180MB, or the full version, weighing in at 21GB. The full version incluces the necessary virtual machines to run through the labs, whereas the lite version requires you to provide your own WIndows 7 and Windows 10 clients.