Measurement and location properties in strict mode

  • Article

Dynamic HTML (DHTML) exposes measurement and location properties that can be used to change the size and position of HTML elements on your web pages. An understanding of these properties and their effect on the elements in a page can help you achieve greater control over the layout of your sites. This topic explains how you can use measurement and location properties to control the appearance of a web page that is rendered using the Windows Internet Explorer 7 strict mode.

Note

The descriptions and examples in this topic are presented using the Internet Explorer 7 strict mode. The examples in this topic will not work correctly with older browsers such as Internet Explorer 6 The strict !DOCTYPE must be added to activate a standards-compliant rendering mode.

For information about the layout and positioning properties in the compatible rendering mode, also called quirks mode, see Measurement and location properties in quirks mode.

Requirements

The following content assumes that you are familiar with a client-side scripting language, such as Microsoft JScript or Microsoft Visual Basic, Scripting Edition (VBScript). You should also be familiar with the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Document Object Model (DOM) Level 1 Ee371232.xtlink_newWindow(en-us,Expression.40).png and cascading style sheets.

Strict versus quirks mode

Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 and later versions support two page-rendering modes: quirks mode and strict mode. The default mode, called quirks mode, emphasizes compatibility and displays web pages as they were displayed in earlier versions of the browser. The legacy engine is loosely based on the Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), Level 1 (CSS1) Ee371232.xtlink_newWindow(en-us,Expression.40).png recommendation.

Internet Explorer also supports strict mode, which emphasizes standards compliance over compatibility. While pages might display differently in earlier versions of Internet Explorer, cascading style sheet–based designs are displayed more consistently by recent versions of most web browsers, including Internet Explorer 7. Strict mode is activated when a standards-compliant !DOCTYPE directive is defined before the HTML element of a page.

This document describes layout properties that exist in strict mode.

See also

Concepts

Layout fundamentals in strict mode
Measurement fundamentals in strict mode
Location fundamentals in strict mode
Positioned elements in strict mode
How to use measurement and location properties in strict mode

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