startList = function() {

    if (document.all&&document.getElementById) {
        
        navRoot = document.getElementById("nav");

        for (i=0; i<navRoot.childNodes.length; i++) {

            node = navRoot.childNodes[i];
            
            if (node.nodeName=="LI") {
                
                node.onmouseover=function() {
                    
                    this.className+=" over";
                }

                node.onmouseout=function() {

                    this.className=this.className.replace(" over", "");
                }
            }
        }
    }
}


//      this is used for opening new windows via the rel attribute within the anchor tag    
function externalLinks() {

    if (!document.getElementsByTagName) return;
        
        var anchors = document.getElementsByTagName("a");

        for (var i=0; i<anchors.length; i++) {
            
            var anchor = anchors[i];
            
            if (anchor.getAttribute("href") && anchor.getAttribute("rel") == "external")
                
                anchor.target = "_blank";
        }
    
    }

    window.onload = function() {
        
        startList();
        externalLinks();

    }