Final answer:
To make IE9 run a Visualforce page in IE8 compatibility mode, add a meta tag with 'IE=EmulateIE8' in the head section of the page. This is a temporary solution, and updating the page for modern standards is recommended.
Step-by-step explanation:
Forcing IE8 Compatibility in Visualforce Pages
If IE9 is not working with your custom Visualforce page and you want to tell your Visualforce code to run in IE8 compatibility mode, you can use the meta tag to instruct IE9 to emulate IE8.
To do this, add the following line within the head section of your Visualforce page:
<meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=EmulateIE8" />
This tag signals to Internet Explorer to render the page as if it was using version 8 of the browser, which can be necessary for compatibility with older pages or scripts.