compatibility mode in IE9

[Violet_82]

Hi all, I have a few questions about compatibility mode. I am using IE9 at the moment.
First and foremost, I have noticed that the compatibility icon tends to appear quite often when browsing the internet: it appears when I look at the bbc site http://www.bbc.co.uk/ and w3c schools just to name a few http://www.w3schools.com/. Does it mean that those sites are somehow broken?

Then, is it possible that when viewing a website IE9 will force it in and therefore display it in compatibility mode? This assuming you haven't clicked the compatibility mode icon.
My understanding is that, if and when that icon appears, if you don't click it the site still works. If you do click it, then - as microsoft says http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/internet-explorer/use-compatibility-view#ie=ie-10 - that site sits within the compatibility sites list and will therefore be displayed in compatibility mode all the time unless you clear that list.

I have done quite a bit of reading about it, but I am not clear whether just the mere fact that the compatibility icon appears means "your site has problems" or not.

[paulkd]

I use the following meta tag:-

<meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=edge,chrome=1" />

There's a MS article here

Click Here

[Violet_82]

thanks I came across that too, but using that metatag means that I will force the browser to display only the feature that the broswer specified in the header supports, and I don't want that, I want the page to be displayed with all the features. This method could be I think useful for debugging only I presume.
But what I am asking is whether the compatibility buttons essentially means that some work needs to be done or I can leave it like that, and whether the browser can actually force a website to display in compatibility mode
thanks