// 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 row is odd or even
	    var even = false;
	    // if arguments are provided to specify the colours
	    // of the even & odd rows, then use the them;
	    // otherwise use the following defaults:
	    var evenColor = arguments[1] ? arguments[1] : "#fff";
	    var oddColor = arguments[2] ? arguments[2] : "#eee";
	    // obtain a reference to the desired table
	    // if no such table exists, abort
	    var table = document.getElementById(id);
	    if (! table) { return; }
		// by definition, tables can have more than one tbody
		// element, so we'll have to get the list of child
		// <tbody>s 
		var tbodies = table.getElementsByTagName("tbody");
	    // and iterate through them...
	    for (var h = 0; h < tbodies.length; h++) {
			// find all the &lt;tr&gt; elements... 
      		var trs = tbodies[h].getElementsByTagName("tr");
            // ... and iterate through them
      		for (var i = 0; i < trs.length; i++) {
			    // avoid rows that have a class attribute
        		// or backgroundColor style
			    if (!hasClass(trs[i]) && ! trs[i].style.backgroundColor) {
 		        	// get all the cells in this row...
	          		var tds = trs[i].getElementsByTagName("td");
    			    // and iterate through them...
			        for (var j = 0; j < tds.length; j++) {
            			var mytd = tds[j];
            			// avoid cells that have a class attribute
			            // or backgroundColor style
	        			if (! hasClass(mytd) && ! mytd.style.backgroundColor) {
	        			    mytd.style.backgroundColor = even ? evenColor : oddColor;
    			        }
			        }
		        }
		        // flip from odd to even, or vice-versa
        		even =  ! even;
			}
    	}
  	}