// 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;
  }
}
}