Share via

XML data islands are no longer supported

  • Article

Support for XML data islands has been removed in Internet Explorer 10 standards and quirks modes for improved interoperability and compliance with HTML5. This means that XML data islands are now parsed as HTML, just like in other browsers. This change can impact pages written exclusively for Windows Internet Explorer or pages that use browser sniffing to alter their behavior in Internet Explorer.

Note  Most pages are unaffected by this change.

 

A page using XML data islands worked as intended in Windows Internet Explorer 9, but no longer works in Internet Explorer 10.

If the page works correctly in other browsers, consider using feature detection to treat Internet Explorer 10 like other browsers. Otherwise, add the following meta tag near the top of the page to opt into Internet Explorer 9 behavior:

<meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=EmulateIE9">

The following example page uses XML data islands and might be impacted by this change:

<html>
  <xml>
    This parses as <b>HTML</b> in Internet Explorer 10 and other browsers.
    In older versions of Internet Explorer it parses as XML.
  </xml>
</html>

The page can be quickly fixed by opting into Internet Explorer 9 behavior, as shown here:

<html>
  <meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=EmulateIE9">
  <xml>
    This parses as <b>HTML</b> in Internet Explorer 10 and other browsers.
    In older versions of Internet Explorer it parses as XML.
  </xml>
</html>

The long-term solution is to revise the code to remove the dependency.

XML data islands

IEBlog Post: HTML5 Parsing in IE10

How to Detect Features Instead of Browsers

Internet Explorer 10 Compatibility Cookbook