// 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;
	      }
	    }
	  }