Detecting IE11 using CSS Capability/Feature Detection

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; }

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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;
}

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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.

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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 */   
}