diff --git a/src/static/js/ace2_inner.js b/src/static/js/ace2_inner.js
index 5204e2a19..4b84e784d 100644
--- a/src/static/js/ace2_inner.js
+++ b/src/static/js/ace2_inner.js
@@ -21,6 +21,17 @@
  */
 var _, $, jQuery, plugins, Ace2Common;
 
+var browser = require('./browser').browser;
+if(browser.msie){
+  // Honestly fuck IE royally.
+  // Basically every hack we have since V11 causes a problem
+  if(parseInt(browser.version) >= 11){
+    delete browser.msie;
+    browser.chrome = true;
+    browser.modernIE = true;
+  }
+}
+
 Ace2Common = require('./ace2_common');
 
 plugins = require('ep_etherpad-lite/static/js/pluginfw/client_plugins');
@@ -34,8 +45,7 @@ var isNodeText = Ace2Common.isNodeText,
   binarySearchInfinite = Ace2Common.binarySearchInfinite,
   htmlPrettyEscape = Ace2Common.htmlPrettyEscape,
   noop = Ace2Common.noop;
-  var hooks = require('./pluginfw/hooks');
-  var browser = require('./browser').browser;
+var hooks = require('./pluginfw/hooks');
 
 function Ace2Inner(){
 
@@ -1353,7 +1363,7 @@ function Ace2Inner(){
     // (from how it looks in our representation) and record them in a way
     // that can be used to "normalize" the document (apply the changes to our
     // representation, and put the DOM in a canonical form).
-    //top.console.log("observeChangesAroundNode(%o)", node);
+    // top.console.log("observeChangesAroundNode(%o)", node);
     var cleanNode;
     var hasAdjacentDirtyness;
     if (!isNodeDirty(node))
@@ -2960,7 +2970,6 @@ function Ace2Inner(){
       {
         return "";
       };
-
       return result;
     }
     else
@@ -3584,8 +3593,7 @@ function Ace2Inner(){
     // On Mac and Linux, move right moves to end of word and move left moves to start;
     // on Windows, always move to start of word.
     // On Windows, Firefox and IE disagree on whether to stop for punctuation (FF says no).
-    /*
-    if (browser.windows && forwardNotBack)
+    if (browser.msie && forwardNotBack)
     {
       while ((!isDone()) && isWordChar(nextChar()))
       {
@@ -3607,7 +3615,6 @@ function Ace2Inner(){
         advance();
       }
     }
-    */
 
     return i;
   }
@@ -3627,7 +3634,6 @@ function Ace2Inner(){
       evt.preventDefault();
       return;
     }
-
     // Is caret potentially hidden by the chat button?
     var myselection = document.getSelection(); // get the current caret selection
     var caretOffsetTop = myselection.focusNode.parentNode.offsetTop | myselection.focusNode.offsetTop; // get the carets selection offset in px IE 214
@@ -3665,7 +3671,6 @@ function Ace2Inner(){
     var specialHandled = false;
     var isTypeForSpecialKey = ((browser.msie || browser.safari || browser.chrome) ? (type == "keydown") : (type == "keypress"));
     var isTypeForCmdKey = ((browser.msie || browser.safari || browser.chrome) ? (type == "keydown") : (type == "keypress"));
-
     var stopped = false;
 
     inCallStackIfNecessary("handleKeyEvent", function()
@@ -3915,10 +3920,10 @@ function Ace2Inner(){
                 // only move the viewport if we're at the bottom of the viewport, if we hit down any other time the viewport shouldn't change
                 // NOTE: This behavior only fires if Chrome decides to break the page layout after a paste, it's annoying but nothing I can do
                 var selection = getSelection();
-                top.console.log("line #", rep.selStart[0]); // the line our caret is on
-                top.console.log("firstvisible", visibleLineRange[0]); // the first visiblel ine
-                top.console.log("lastVisible", visibleLineRange[1]); // the last visible line
-                top.console.log(rep.selStart[0], visibleLineRange[1], rep.selStart[0], visibleLineRange[0]);
+                // top.console.log("line #", rep.selStart[0]); // the line our caret is on
+                // top.console.log("firstvisible", visibleLineRange[0]); // the first visiblel ine
+                // top.console.log("lastVisible", visibleLineRange[1]); // the last visible line
+                // top.console.log(rep.selStart[0], visibleLineRange[1], rep.selStart[0], visibleLineRange[0]);
                 var newY = viewport.top + lineHeight;
               }
               if(newY){
@@ -3952,7 +3957,7 @@ function Ace2Inner(){
       }
 
       // Is part of multi-keystroke international character on Firefox Mac
-      var isFirefoxHalfCharacter = (browser.mozilla && evt.altKey && charCode === 0 && keyCode === 0);
+      var isFirefoxHalfCharacter = (browser.firefox && evt.altKey && charCode === 0 && keyCode === 0);
 
       // Is part of multi-keystroke international character on Safari Mac
       var isSafariHalfCharacter = (browser.safari && evt.altKey && keyCode == 229);
@@ -4267,12 +4272,6 @@ function Ace2Inner(){
         end.collapse(false);
         selection.startPoint = pointFromCollapsedRange(start);
         selection.endPoint = pointFromCollapsedRange(end);
-/*if ((!selection.startPoint.node.isText) && (!selection.endPoint.node.isText)) {
-  console.log(selection.startPoint.node.uniqueId()+","+
-    selection.startPoint.index+" / "+
-    selection.endPoint.node.uniqueId()+","+
-    selection.endPoint.index);
-}*/
       }
       return selection;
     }
@@ -4684,7 +4683,7 @@ function Ace2Inner(){
       setIfNecessary(iframe.style, "width", newWidth + "px");
       setIfNecessary(sideDiv.style, "height", newHeight + "px");
     }
-    if (browser.mozilla)
+    if (browser.firefox)
     {
       if (!doesWrap)
       {
@@ -4870,7 +4869,7 @@ function Ace2Inner(){
     })
 
     // CompositionEvent is not implemented below IE version 8
-    if ( !(browser.msie && parseInt(browser.version) < 9) && document.documentElement)
+    if ( !(browser.msie && parseInt(browser.version <= 9)) && document.documentElement)
     {
       $(document.documentElement).on("compositionstart", handleCompositionEvent);
       $(document.documentElement).on("compositionend", handleCompositionEvent);
@@ -5333,20 +5332,9 @@ function Ace2Inner(){
       {
         var body = doc.getElementById("innerdocbody");
         root = body; // defined as a var in scope outside
-        if (browser.mozilla) $(root).addClass("mozilla");
+        if (browser.firefox) $(root).addClass("mozilla");
         if (browser.safari) $(root).addClass("safari");
         if (browser.msie) $(root).addClass("msie");
-        if (browser.msie)
-        {
-          // cache CSS background images
-          try
-          {
-            doc.execCommand("BackgroundImageCache", false, true);
-          }
-          catch (e)
-          { /* throws an error in some IE 6 but not others! */
-          }
-        }
         setClassPresence(root, "authorColors", true);
         setClassPresence(root, "doesWrap", doesWrap);
 
diff --git a/src/static/js/broadcast.js b/src/static/js/broadcast.js
index a25d889b9..817155b55 100644
--- a/src/static/js/broadcast.js
+++ b/src/static/js/broadcast.js
@@ -66,18 +66,6 @@ function loadBroadcastJS(socket, sendSocketMsg, fireWhenAllScriptsAreLoaded, Bro
     }
   }
 
-  // for IE
-  if (browser.msie)
-  {
-    try
-    {
-      document.execCommand("BackgroundImageCache", false, true);
-    }
-    catch (e)
-    {}
-  }
-
-
   //var socket;
   var channelState = "DISCONNECTED";
 
diff --git a/src/static/js/collab_client.js b/src/static/js/collab_client.js
index 6089f1972..e5c0ec8b2 100644
--- a/src/static/js/collab_client.js
+++ b/src/static/js/collab_client.js
@@ -81,8 +81,7 @@ function getCollabClient(ace2editor, serverVars, initialUserInfo, options, _pad)
     onServerMessage: function()
     {}
   };
-
-  if (browser.mozilla)
+  if (browser.firefox)
   {
     // Prevent "escape" from taking effect and canceling a comet connection;
     // doesn't work if focus is on an iframe.
diff --git a/src/static/js/contentcollector.js b/src/static/js/contentcollector.js
index 1759d8656..1f0620fef 100644
--- a/src/static/js/contentcollector.js
+++ b/src/static/js/contentcollector.js
@@ -35,9 +35,10 @@ function sanitizeUnicode(s)
   return UNorm.nfc(s);
 }
 
-function makeContentCollector(collectStyles, browser, apool, domInterface, className2Author)
+function makeContentCollector(collectStyles, abrowser, apool, domInterface, className2Author)
 {
-  browser = browser || {};
+  abrowser = abrowser || {};
+  // I don't like the above.
 
   var dom = domInterface || {
     isNodeText: function(n)
@@ -484,7 +485,7 @@ function makeContentCollector(collectStyles, browser, apool, domInterface, class
         var cls = dom.nodeProp(node, "className");
 
         var isPre = (tname == "pre");
-        if ((!isPre) && browser.safari)
+        if ((!isPre) && abrowser.safari)
         {
           isPre = (styl && /\bwhite-space:\s*pre\b/i.exec(styl));
         }
@@ -610,7 +611,7 @@ function makeContentCollector(collectStyles, browser, apool, domInterface, class
         }
       }
     }
-    if (!browser.msie)
+    if (!abrowser.msie)
     {
       _reachBlockPoint(node, 1, state);
     }
@@ -625,7 +626,7 @@ function makeContentCollector(collectStyles, browser, apool, domInterface, class
         _ensureColumnZero(state);
       }
     }
-    if (browser.msie)
+    if (abrowser.msie)
     {
       // in IE, a point immediately after a DIV appears on the next line
       _reachBlockPoint(node, 1, state);
diff --git a/src/static/js/domline.js b/src/static/js/domline.js
index b8e6eb146..03f1b9c89 100644
--- a/src/static/js/domline.js
+++ b/src/static/js/domline.js
@@ -65,7 +65,6 @@ domline.createDomLine = function(nonEmpty, doesWrap, optBrowser, optDocument)
     lineMarker: 0
   };
 
-  var browser = (optBrowser || {});
   var document = optDocument;
 
   if (document)
@@ -93,8 +92,10 @@ domline.createDomLine = function(nonEmpty, doesWrap, optBrowser, optDocument)
   var perTextNodeProcess = (doesWrap ? _.identity : processSpaces);
   var perHtmlLineProcess = (doesWrap ? processSpaces : _.identity);
   var lineClass = 'ace-line';
+
   result.appendSpan = function(txt, cls)
   {
+
     var processedMarker = false;
     // Handle lineAttributeMarker, if present
     if (cls.indexOf(lineAttributeMarker) >= 0)
@@ -225,7 +226,7 @@ domline.createDomLine = function(nonEmpty, doesWrap, optBrowser, optDocument)
       {
         newHTML += '&nbsp;';
       }
-      else
+      else if (!optBrowser.msie)
       {
         newHTML += '<br/>';
       }
diff --git a/src/static/js/linestylefilter.js b/src/static/js/linestylefilter.js
index 675f19d02..17ab993b1 100644
--- a/src/static/js/linestylefilter.js
+++ b/src/static/js/linestylefilter.js
@@ -318,20 +318,20 @@ linestylefilter.textAndClassFuncSplitter = function(func, splitPointsOpt)
   return spanHandler;
 };
 
-linestylefilter.getFilterStack = function(lineText, textAndClassFunc, browser)
+linestylefilter.getFilterStack = function(lineText, textAndClassFunc, abrowser)
 {
   var func = linestylefilter.getURLFilter(lineText, textAndClassFunc);
 
   var hookFilters = hooks.callAll("aceGetFilterStack", {
     linestylefilter: linestylefilter,
-    browser: browser
+    browser: abrowser
   });
   _.map(hookFilters ,function(hookFilter)
   {
     func = hookFilter(lineText, func);
   });
 
-  if (browser !== undefined && browser.msie)
+  if (abrowser !== undefined && abrowser.msie)
   {
     // IE7+ will take an e-mail address like <foo@bar.com> and linkify it to foo@bar.com.
     // We then normalize it back to text with no angle brackets.  It's weird.  So always
diff --git a/src/static/js/pad.js b/src/static/js/pad.js
index ff62f86cc..5bbf41236 100644
--- a/src/static/js/pad.js
+++ b/src/static/js/pad.js
@@ -494,7 +494,7 @@ var pad = {
     pad.initTime = +(new Date());
     pad.padOptions = clientVars.initialOptions;
 
-    if ((!browser.msie) && (!(browser.mozilla && browser.version.indexOf("1.8.") == 0)))
+    if ((!browser.msie) && (!(browser.firefox && browser.version.indexOf("1.8.") == 0)))
     {
       document.domain = document.domain; // for comet
     }
diff --git a/tests/frontend/specs/bold.js b/tests/frontend/specs/bold.js
index bffb281b5..b54466e4e 100644
--- a/tests/frontend/specs/bold.js
+++ b/tests/frontend/specs/bold.js
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ describe("bold button", function(){
     //select this text element
     $firstTextElement.sendkeys('{selectall}');
 
-    if(inner$(window)[0].bowser.firefox || inner$(window)[0].bowser.msie){ // if it's a mozilla or IE 
+    if(inner$(window)[0].bowser.firefox || inner$(window)[0].bowser.modernIE){ // if it's a mozilla or IE 
       var evtType = "keypress";
     }else{
       var evtType = "keydown";
diff --git a/tests/frontend/specs/caret.js b/tests/frontend/specs/caret.js
index 6e68b6f52..14ff8d6a6 100644
--- a/tests/frontend/specs/caret.js
+++ b/tests/frontend/specs/caret.js
@@ -297,7 +297,7 @@ function prepareDocument(n, target){ // generates a random document with random
 }
 
 function keyEvent(target, charCode, ctrl, shift){ // sends a charCode to the window
-  if(inner$(window)[0].bowser.firefox || inner$(window)[0].bowser.msie){ // if it's a mozilla or IE  
+  if(inner$(window)[0].bowser.firefox || inner$(window)[0].bowser.modernIE){ // if it's a mozilla or IE  
     var evtType = "keypress";
   }else{
     var evtType = "keydown";
diff --git a/tests/frontend/specs/indentation.js b/tests/frontend/specs/indentation.js
index c8f2cee81..8e851d873 100644
--- a/tests/frontend/specs/indentation.js
+++ b/tests/frontend/specs/indentation.js
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ describe("indentation button", function(){
     //select this text element
     $firstTextElement.sendkeys('{selectall}');
 
-    if(inner$(window)[0].bowser.firefox || inner$(window)[0].bowser.msie){ // if it's a mozilla or IE  
+    if(inner$(window)[0].bowser.firefox || inner$(window)[0].bowser.modernIE){ // if it's a mozilla or IE  
       var evtType = "keypress";
     }else{
       var evtType = "keydown";
diff --git a/tests/frontend/specs/italic.js b/tests/frontend/specs/italic.js
index 4ef4b4085..bf7f2bc60 100644
--- a/tests/frontend/specs/italic.js
+++ b/tests/frontend/specs/italic.js
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ describe("italic some text", function(){
     //select this text element
     $firstTextElement.sendkeys('{selectall}');
 
-    if(inner$(window)[0].bowser.firefox || inner$(window)[0].bowser.msie){ // if it's a mozilla or IE  
+    if(inner$(window)[0].bowser.firefox || inner$(window)[0].bowser.modernIE){ // if it's a mozilla or IE  
       var evtType = "keypress";
     }else{
       var evtType = "keydown";
diff --git a/tests/frontend/specs/redo.js b/tests/frontend/specs/redo.js
index 00873d14a..caa32feec 100644
--- a/tests/frontend/specs/redo.js
+++ b/tests/frontend/specs/redo.js
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ describe("undo button then redo button", function(){
     var modifiedValue = $firstTextElement.text(); // get the modified value
     expect(modifiedValue).not.to.be(originalValue); // expect the value to change
 
-    if(inner$(window)[0].bowser.firefox || inner$(window)[0].bowser.msie){ // if it's a mozilla or IE  
+    if(inner$(window)[0].bowser.firefox || inner$(window)[0].bowser.modernIE){ // if it's a mozilla or IE  
       var evtType = "keypress";
     }else{
       var evtType = "keydown";