Hi wolf11th,
1. I can reproduce the spell check issue on IE8. We are investigating this issue and will get back to you as soon as possible.
2. The change font issue.
Cause it because in the code you provided has many irregular nesting target and missing some start/end target of <font>.
If only this code has the issue, please try the way below.
In the last line of your code, just remove ' '(the red part) and it should work.
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 10pt">dfd.</span></font> </font></font></div>
Regards,
ken