if (document.layers) { 
	appear = 'show'; 
	disappear = 'hide'; 
} else if (document.all) { 
	appear = 'visible'; 
	disappear = 'hidden'; 
}

// Both Netscape and IE handle layers differently, and have different 
// syntax for handling their behavior when it comes to handling layer 
// attributes. 
// So whereas IE uses 'show' and 'hide,' Netscape uses 'visible' and 
// 'hidden'. So we check and assign the appropriate values beforehand.

function show(element) { 
var thiselement; 
	if (document.layers) { 
		thiselement = document.layers[element]; 
	} else if (document.all) { 
		thiselement = document.all(element).style; 
	} 
	thiselement.visibility=appear; 
}

function hide(element) { 
	var thiselement; 
	if (document.layers) { 
		thiselement = document.layers[element]; 
	} else if (document.all) { 
		thiselement = document.all(element).style; 
	} 
	thiselement.visibility=disappear;
}