Z-index Internet Explorer IE6
Problem
z-index is not performing properly in internet explorer, ie6, ie7, etc.
Don’t worry it’s not you, this is yet another bug in IE. IE does not render z-index properly:
“In Internet Explorer positioned elements generate a new stacking context, starting with a z-index value of 0. Therefore z-index doesn’t work correctly”
Solutions/Workarounds
- Give the element (that should be behind) a z-index:-1 and position:relative
- Give the parent of the front element a higher z-index.
- Become a white water rafting tour guide.

June 28th, 2009 at 6:00 pm
I struggled with this bug for days and finally found a place where I could apply this fix. There are several other work arounds as well as more details on how to apply this fix to the IE z-index bug in this binder:
http://www.livebinders.com/play/play?id=1808
July 28th, 2009 at 10:47 am
Thanks for listing down the possible solutions! Giving the parent a higher z-index worked for me
November 10th, 2009 at 4:57 am
Hi,
it’s nice solution but not worked for me.
I have case with menu, under menu I have tabs. Relative z-index -1 make tabs unavailable.
Finally I did my solution with Jquery and relative position:
jQuery().ready(function(){
$(“.slidemenu”).hover(
function(e) {
$(‘#neg_position’).css(“z-index”,”-1″).css(“position”,”relative”);
},
function() {
$(‘#neg_position’).css(“z-index”,”").css(“position”,”");
}
).mousemove(
function(e) {
$(‘#neg_position’).css(“z-index”,”-1″).css(“position”,”relative”);
}
);
});
slidemenu is container of my menu,neg_position my tabs container
I hope it help to somebody.
March 31st, 2010 at 5:33 am
awesome, thanks. giving the parent a highter z-index worked for me too
May 10th, 2010 at 12:55 pm
Thanks for that solution, becoming a white water rafting tour guide as resolved a lot of z-indexing issues for me, as well as other life problems.
May 23rd, 2010 at 10:59 pm
Agreed with Tyler, giving up web design and becoming a white water rafting tour guide resolved all ie bugs for me!
June 11th, 2010 at 11:11 am
Ah! This solution worked for me. Thank you so much – this is saving me a lot of headache.
(and I mean the actual fix, not doing river rafting, haha.)