Document compatibility defines how a browser renders your website.  The more specific you are at telling the browser what to expect, the better the experience for your users. When using web standards like HTML5, start by explicitly declaring the HTML5 document type:

[code lang="html"]&lt;!DOCTYPE html&gt;[/code]

This markup triggers standards mode in Internet Explorer 9 and 10.  And it also works well in Chrome and Firefox.  Four steps will get your site ready for many browsers and devices:

<h2>Step 1: Validate that your site uses standards mode</h2>
Check whether or not your site is currently in standards mode:
<ol>
<li>Open the website in IE10 platform preview.
<ul><li><strong>Note:</strong> You can also follow the same steps to update the docmode for IE9 only without downloading the preview.</li></ul></li> 
<li>Press F12 to launch the IE Developer Tools or find it on the Tools menu as shown below: 
<a href="http://blog.reybango.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/dev-tool-menu-1.png"><img src="http://blog.reybango.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/dev-tool-menu-1.png" alt="" title="dev-tool-menu-1" width="243" height="268" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-1806" /></a>
<ul><li><strong>Note:</strong> If you’re not familiar with using the IE F12 Developer Tools to debug your webpages, please read the <a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg589507%28v=VS.85%29.aspx">following tutorial</a>.</li></ul></li> 
<li>Check if your site indicates Browser Mode: IE10 and Document Mode: IE10 standards as shown in the toolbar below:
<a href="http://blog.reybango.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/ie-dev-tools-1.png"><img src="http://blog.reybango.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/ie-dev-tools-1-300x39.png" alt="" title="ie-dev-tools-1" width="300" height="39" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-1808" /></a></li>
<li>If your site is in Browser Mode: IE10 and Document Mode: IE10 Standards, you’re done!  Note if the Browser Mode and Document Mode of your site are different than above.  A common example is Browser Mode = IE8 and Document Mode = Quirks which indicates that your website was designed for older versions of IE and may not be ready for web standards.  
<a href="http://blog.reybango.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/ie-dev-tools-2.png"><img src="http://blog.reybango.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/ie-dev-tools-2-300x42.png" alt="" title="ie-dev-tools-2" width="300" height="42" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-1809" /></a>