SCRIPT16386 jQuery.contains in ie9 with quirks mode

Question

I am using an external library called "deps.js". I forked it on github and modified it a little bit. You can find it here:

https://github.com/ckosmowski/jquery-interdependencies/blob/master/deps.js

Unfortunately i'm stuck to the quirks mode of ie9. i'm getting the following error:

SCRIPT16386 Schnittstelle nicht unterstützt

(Which can be translated to "interface not supported")

The error message is refering to:

jquery-1.7.js, Line 5244 Character 3 which is:

if ( document.documentElement.contains ) {
Sizzle.contains = function( a, b ) {
    return a !== b && (a.contains ? a.contains(b) : true); //This is the line from the error message
};

In Standards mode this does not appear.

• What causes this problem?
• How to find out what causes this problem?

Answer 1

I don't think that this solves the main problem but the symptoms mentioned in the question seem to be solved with newer jQuery versions. I just changed the jQuery version from 1.7 to 1.10.2 and now it works perfectly in quirks mode.

Answer 2

Reposting comment as an answer, as suggested by OP...

If you really are stuck on quirks mode, then the chances are you're not going to be able to fix this. Quirks mode is an IE5-compatibility mode, and deliberately removes tons of features from the browser to try to be IE5 compatible.

You really shouldn't be using quirks mode for anything these days, and frankly, you shouldn't need to be stuck on it either -- converting a site to work in standards mode usually isn't that difficult. (look up box-sizing:border-box; it will solve most of the conversion problems)