// overly simplistic test for IE
isIE = (document.all ? true : false);
// both IE5 and NS6 are DOM-compliant (well, sort of...)
isDOM = (document.getElementById ? true : false);

function getDivStyle(divname) {
 var style;
 if (isDOM) { style = document.getElementById(divname).style; }
 else { style = isIE ? document.all[divname].style
                     : document.layers[divname]; } // NS4
 return style;
}

function hideElement(divname) {
 getDivStyle(divname).display = 'none';
}

function showElement(divname) {
 getDivStyle(divname).display = 'inline';
}