HTML Ascii not showing on IE 8-9

Question

Trying to get the 1/3 and 1/8 symbols to show on IE 8-9. It shows fine on earlier versions of IE and all other browsers.

Code I'm using:

&frac13;
&frac14;

possible duplicate of [Unicode characters and Internet Explorer](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3027448/unicode-characters-and-internet-explorer) — TheLifeOfSteve, Apr 30 '14 at 19:25
They can hardly work on *earlier* versions of IE. Do you mean *later* versions? — Jukka K. Korpela, Apr 30 '14 at 19:29

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Apr 30 '14 at 19:38

0

They aren't in the HTML4 spec, which is what IE9 and lower use. Only 1/4, 1/2 and 3/4 are supported.

Here is a list of what works and what doesn't. http://stanford.library.usyd.edu.au/symbols/entities.html#Math

answered Apr 30 '14 at 19:38

Tarun

456
3
8

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 30 '14 at 19:40

IE 9 and older do not recognize the references &frac13; and &frac18; (the latter is obviously what you meant, instead of ¼, which is well supported) but instead render them literally. These references were not defined in HTML 4.01, and they were added to browsers relatively late (around 2011). Use the numeric references instead: ⅓ and ⅛ (or type the characters themselves, using a suitable editor and UTF-8 encoding).

You would still have a font problem, because the font you use for normal text may not contain these characters. In some situations, browsers are unable to use a fallback font unless you give them a helping hand with a font-family declaration. Besides, there is a risk of getting these characters in a style different from other characters, including more common vulgar fractions like ½. Thus, a careful choice of a font list is recommended; see my Guide to using special characters in HTML.

Jukka, thank you for the help and clarity. Appreciate! – alyus Apr 30 '14 at 19:43 — alyus, Apr 30 '14 at 19:43

HTML Ascii not showing on IE 8-9

2 Answers2