// this function is need to work around 
  // a bug in IE related to element attributes
  function hasClass(obj) {
     var result = false;
     if (obj.getAttributeNode("class") != null) {
         result = obj.getAttributeNode("class").value;
     }
     return result;
  }   

 function stripe(id) {

    // the flag we'll use to keep track of 
    // whether the current list item is odd or even
    var even = false;
    // the colours for the odd and even rows of the list
  
    var evenColor = arguments[1] ? arguments[1] : "#F5DDDD url(images/bltred.gif) no-repeat 0px 5px";
    var oddColor = arguments[2] ? arguments[2] : "#EEF4FB url(images/bltblue.gif) no-repeat 0px 5px";
    // obtain a reference to the desired list
    // if no such list exists, abort
    var ul = document.getElementById(id);
    if (! ul) { return; }
    // by definition, lists  can have more than one li
    // element, so we'll have to get the list of child
    // <li>s 
    var lis = ul.getElementsByTagName("li");

  // and iterate through them...
    for (var h = 0; h < lis.length; h++) {
      var list = lis[h];  
    list.style.background = even ? evenColor : oddColor;

        // flip from odd to even, or vice-versa
        even =  ! even; 
    }
  }
// -->