Detecting IE11 using CSS Capability/Feature Detection

IE10+ no longer supports browser detection tags to identify a browser.

For detecting IE10 I am using JavaScript and a capability-testing technique to detect certain ms prefixed styles are defined such as msTouchAction and msWrapFlow.

I want to do the same for IE11, but I am assuming that all the IE10 styles will be supported in IE11 as well. Can anyone help me identify IE11 only styles or capabilities that I could use to tell the two apart?

Extra Info

• I don't want to use User Agent type detection because it's so spotty, and can be changed, as well as I think I've read that IE11 is intentionally trying to hide the fact it's Internet Explorer.
• For an example of how the IE10 capability testing works, I used this JsFiddle (not mine) as a basis for my testing.
• Also I am expecting a lot of answers of "This is a bad idea...". One of my needs for this is that IE10 claims it supports something, but it is very badly implemented, and I want to be able to differentiate between IE10 and IE11+ so I can move on with a capability-based detection method in the future.
• This test is coupled with a Modernizr test that will simply make some functionality "fallback" to less glamorous behavior. We are not talking about critical functionality.

ALSO I am already using Modernizr, but it doesn't help here. I need help for a solution to my clearly asked question please.

In the light of the evolving thread, I have updated the below:

IE 6

* html .ie6 {property:value;}

or

.ie6 { _property:value;}

IE 7

*+html .ie7 {property:value;}

or

*:first-child+html .ie7 {property:value;}

IE 6 and 7

@media screen\9 {
    .ie67 {property:value;}
}

or

.ie67 { *property:value;}

or

.ie67 { #property:value;}

IE 6, 7 and 8

@media \0screen\,screen\9 {
    .ie678 {property:value;}
}

IE 8

html>/**/body .ie8 {property:value;}

or

@media \0screen {
    .ie8 {property:value;}
}

IE 8 Standards Mode Only

.ie8 { property /*\**/: value\9 }

IE 8,9 and 10

@media screen\0 {
    .ie8910 {property:value;}
}

IE 9 only

@media screen and (min-width:0\0) and (min-resolution: .001dpcm) { 
 // IE9 CSS
 .ie9{property:value;}
}

IE 9 and above

@media screen and (min-width:0\0) and (min-resolution: +72dpi) {
  // IE9+ CSS
  .ie9up{property:value;}
}

IE 9 and 10

@media screen and (min-width:0) {
    .ie910{property:value;}
}

IE 10 only

_:-ms-lang(x), .ie10 { property:value\9; }

IE 10 and above

_:-ms-lang(x), .ie10up { property:value; }

or

@media all and (-ms-high-contrast: none), (-ms-high-contrast: active) {
   .ie10up{property:value;}
}

The use of -ms-high-contrast means that MS Edge will not be targeted, as Edge does not support -ms-high-contrast.

IE 11

_:-ms-fullscreen, :root .ie11up { property:value; }

---

Javascript alternatives

###Modernizr

> Modernizr runs quickly on page load to detect features; it then > creates a JavaScript object with the results, and adds classes to the > html element

###User agent selection

Javascript:

var b = document.documentElement;
        b.setAttribute('data-useragent',  navigator.userAgent);
        b.setAttribute('data-platform', navigator.platform );
        b.className += ((!!('ontouchstart' in window) || !!('onmsgesturechange' in window))?' touch':'');

Adds (e.g) the below to html element:

data-useragent='Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; MSIE 9.0; Windows NT 6.1; Trident/5.0; SLCC2; .NET CLR 2.0.50727; .NET CLR 3.5.30729; .NET CLR 3.0.30729; Media Center PC 6.0; .NET4.0C)'
data-platform='Win32'

Allowing very targetted CSS selectors, e.g.:

html[data-useragent*='Chrome/13.0'] .nav{
    background:url(img/radial_grad.png) center bottom no-repeat;
}

---

Footnote

If possible, identify and fix any issue(s) without hacks. Support progressive enhancement and graceful degradation. However, this is an 'ideal world' scenario not always obtainable, as such- the above should help provide some good options.

---

###Attribution / Essential Reading

• Jeff Clayton | Browserhacks.com

• Keith Clarke

• Paul Irish

• Web Devout

• The Spanner

To target IE10 and IE11 only (and not Edge):

@media screen and (-ms-high-contrast: active), (-ms-high-contrast: none) {  
   /* add your IE10-IE11 css here */   
}

So I found my own solution to this problem in the end.

After searching through Microsoft documentation I managed to find a new IE11 only style msTextCombineHorizontal

In my test, I check for IE10 styles and if they are a positive match, then I check for the IE11 only style. If I find it, then it's IE11+, if I don't, then it's IE10.

Code Example: Detect IE10 and IE11 by CSS Capability Testing (JSFiddle)

 /**
  Target IE 10 with JavaScript and CSS property detection.
  
  # 2013 by Tim Pietrusky
  # timpietrusky.com
 **/

 // IE 10 only CSS properties
 var ie10Styles = [
     'msTouchAction',
     'msWrapFlow',
     'msWrapMargin',
     'msWrapThrough',
     'msOverflowStyle',
     'msScrollChaining',
     'msScrollLimit',
     'msScrollLimitXMin',
     'msScrollLimitYMin',
     'msScrollLimitXMax',
     'msScrollLimitYMax',
     'msScrollRails',
     'msScrollSnapPointsX',
     'msScrollSnapPointsY',
     'msScrollSnapType',
     'msScrollSnapX',
     'msScrollSnapY',
     'msScrollTranslation',
     'msFlexbox',
     'msFlex',
     'msFlexOrder'];

 var ie11Styles = [
     'msTextCombineHorizontal'];

 /*
  * Test all IE only CSS properties
  */
 var d = document;
 var b = d.body;
 var s = b.style;
 var ieVersion = null;
 var property;

 // Test IE10 properties
 for (var i = 0; i < ie10Styles.length; i++) {
     property = ie10Styles[i];

     if (s[property] != undefined) {
         ieVersion = "ie10";
         createEl("IE10 style found: " + property);
     }
 }

 // Test IE11 properties
 for (var i = 0; i < ie11Styles.length; i++) {
     property = ie11Styles[i];

     if (s[property] != undefined) {
         ieVersion = "ie11";
         createEl("IE11 style found: " + property);
     }
 }

 if (ieVersion) {
     b.className = ieVersion;
     $('#versionId').html('Version: ' + ieVersion);
 } else {
     createEl('Not IE10 or 11.');
 }

 /*
  * Just a little helper to create a DOM element
  */
 function createEl(content) {
     el = d.createElement('div');
     el.innerHTML = content;
     b.appendChild(el);
 }

 /*
  * List of IE CSS stuff:
  * http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ie/hh869403(v=vs.85).aspx
  */

body {
    font: 1.25em sans-serif;
}
div {
    background: red;
    color:#fff;
    padding: 1em;
}
.ie10 div {
    background: green;
    margin-bottom:.5em;
}
.ie11 div {
    background: purple;
    margin-bottom:.5em;
}

<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.9.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
<h1>Detect IE10 and IE11 by CSS Capability Testing</h1>


<h2 id="versionId"></h2>

I will update the code example with more styles when I discover them.

NOTE: This will almost certainly identify IE12 and IE13 as "IE11", as those styles will probably carry forward. I will add further tests as new versions roll out, and hopefully be able to rely again on Modernizr.

I'm using this test for fallback behavior. The fallback behavior is just less glamorous styling, it doesn't have reduced functionality.

This seems to work:

@media screen and (-ms-high-contrast: active), (-ms-high-contrast: none) {  
   /* IE10+ specific styles go here */  
}

https://www.limecanvas.com/css-hacks-for-targeting-ie-10-and-above/

Here's an answer for 2017 on, where you probably only care about distinguishing <=IE11 from >IE11 ("Edge"):

@supports not (old: ie) { /* code for not old IE here */ }

More demonstrative example:

body:before { content: 'old ie'; }
/**/@supports not (old: ie) {
body:before { content: 'not old ie'; }
/**/}

This works because IE11 doesn't actually even support @supports, and all other relevant browser/version combinations do.

You can write your IE11 code as normal and then use @supports and check for a property that isn't supported in IE11, for example grid-area: auto.

You can then write your modern browser styles within this. IE doesn't support the @supports rule and will use the original styles, whereas these will be overridden in modern browsers that support @supports.

.my-class {
// IE the background will be red
background: red;

   // Modern browsers the background will be blue
    @supports (grid-area: auto) {
      background: blue;
    }
}

This worked for me

if(navigator.userAgent.match(/Trident.*rv:11\./)) {
    $('body').addClass('ie11');
}

And then in the css file things prefixed with

body.ie11 #some-other-div

When is this browser ready to die?

Try this:

/*------Specific style for IE11---------*/
 _:-ms-fullscreen, :root 
 .legend 
{ 
  line-height: 1.5em;
  position: relative;
  top: -1.1em;   
}

Take a look at this article: CSS: User Agent Selectors

Basically, when you use this script:

var b = document.documentElement;
b.setAttribute('data-useragent',  navigator.userAgent);
b.setAttribute('data-platform', navigator.platform );
b.className += ((!!('ontouchstart' in window) || !!('onmsgesturechange' in window))?' touch':'');

You can now use CSS to target any browser / version.

So for IE11 we could do this:

FIDDLE

html[data-useragent*='rv:11.0']
{
    color: green;
}

Use the following properties:

• !!window.MSInputMethodContext
• !!document.msFullscreenEnabled

You should use Modernizr, it will add a class to the body tag.

also:

function getIeVersion()
{
  var rv = -1;
  if (navigator.appName == 'Microsoft Internet Explorer')
  {
    var ua = navigator.userAgent;
    var re  = new RegExp("MSIE ([0-9]{1,}[\.0-9]{0,})");
    if (re.exec(ua) != null)
      rv = parseFloat( RegExp.$1 );
  }
  else if (navigator.appName == 'Netscape')
  {
    var ua = navigator.userAgent;
    var re  = new RegExp("Trident/.*rv:([0-9]{1,}[\.0-9]{0,})");
    if (re.exec(ua) != null)
      rv = parseFloat( RegExp.$1 );
  }
  return rv;
}

Note that IE11 is still is in preview, and the user agent may change before release.

The User-agent string for IE 11 is currently this one :

Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.3; Trident/7.0; rv 11.0) like Gecko

Which means your can simply test, for versions 11.xx,

var isIE11 = !!navigator.userAgent.match(/Trident.*rv 11\./)

Perhaps Layout Engine v0.7.0 is a good solution for your situation. It uses browser feature detection and can detect not only IE11 and IE10, but also IE9, IE8, and IE7. It also detects other popular browsers, including some mobile browsers. It adds a class to the html tag, is easy to use, and it's performed well under some fairly deep testing.

http://mattstow.com/layout-engine.html

If you're using Modernizr - then you can easily differntiate between IE10 and IE11.

IE10 doesn't support the pointer-events property. IE11 does. (caniuse)

Now, based on the class which Modernizr inserts you could have the following CSS:

.class
{ 
   /* for IE11 */
}

.no-pointerevents .class
{ 
   /* for IE10 */
}

You can use js and add a class in html to maintain the standard of conditional comments:

  var ua = navigator.userAgent,
      doc = document.documentElement;

  if ((ua.match(/MSIE 10.0/i))) {
    doc.className = doc.className + " ie10";

  } else if((ua.match(/rv:11.0/i))){
    doc.className = doc.className + " ie11";
  }

Or use a lib like bowser:

https://github.com/ded/bowser

Or modernizr for feature detection:

http://modernizr.com/

Detecting IE and its versions actually is extremely easy, at least extremely intuitive:

var uA = navigator.userAgent;
var browser = null;
var ieVersion = null;

if (uA.indexOf('MSIE 6') >= 0) {
    browser = 'IE';
    ieVersion = 6;
}
if (uA.indexOf('MSIE 7') >= 0) {
    browser = 'IE';
    ieVersion = 7;
}
if (document.documentMode) { // as of IE8
    browser = 'IE';
    ieVersion = document.documentMode;
}

.

This way, ou're also catching high IE versions in Compatibility Mode/View. Next, its a matter of assigning conditional classes:

var htmlTag = document.documentElement;
if (browser == 'IE' && ieVersion <= 11)
    htmlTag.className += ' ie11-';

You can try this:

if(document.documentMode) {
  document.documentElement.className+=' ie'+document.documentMode;
}

I ran into the same problem with a Gravity Form (WordPress) in IE11. The form's column style "display: inline-grid" broke the layout; applying the answers above resolved the discrepancy!

@media all and (-ms-high-contrast:none){
  *::-ms-backdrop, .gfmc-column { display: inline-block;} /* IE11 */
}

Step back: why are you even trying to detect "internet explorer" rather than "my website needs to do X, does this browser support that feature? If so, good browser. If not, then I should warn the user".

You should hit up http://modernizr.com/ instead of continuing what you're doing.