DW CS4 Horizontal Spry drop down menu not displaying correctly in Internet Explorer 8

Question

Hi,
I have created a horizontal Spry drop down menu in Dreamweaver CS4 with my own background images. I have done various modifications to the CSS script to accommodate the style and feel needed; including making the main buttons' height twice the size of the sub menu buttons and some alignments. It seems to work different depending which browser is used.
It works well in Google Chrome.
It works well in Firefox with the exception that if any of the buttons are clicked, thereafter a thin black line is diplayed horizontally across center of the top main buttons when the mouse rolls over them. I would like to correct this but is not nearly as bad as the problem I'm having in Internet Explorer 8.
Here is my biggest concern and I would greatly appreciate if anyone can shed some light on this matter.
Once opened in Internet Explorer 8 the main navigation buttons appear as they should. IE8 prompts me the following: "To help protect your security, Internet Explorer has restricted this webpage from running scripts or ActiveX controls that could access your computer. Click here for options..". Once I allow IE8 to run scripts or ActiveX controls, the background image disappears and only shows on any menu or submenu button when the mouse rolls over that particular button. Can someone please help.
The menu can be seen at work by clicking on this link:
www.bargainxchange.com/BXC Main Navigation Spry Drop Menu.html
Below are all the scrips involved.
Here is the CSS script named "SpryMenuBarHorizontal4.css" in use :
/* SpryMenuBarHorizontal.css - version 0.6 - Spry Pre-Release 1.6.1 */
/* Copyright (c) 2006. Adobe Systems Incorporated. All rights reserved. */
LAYOUT INFORMATION: describes box model, positioning, z-order
/* The outermost container of the Menu Bar, an auto width box with no margin or padding */
ul.MenuBarHorizontal
    margin: 10;
    padding: 0;
    list-style-type: none;
    font-size: 80%;
    cursor: default;
    width: auto;
    font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;
    font-weight: bold;
    text-align: center;
    /*whole menu moves*/
    margin-left: 100px;
/* Set the active Menu Bar with this class, currently setting z-index to accomodate IE rendering bug: http://therealcrisp.xs4all.nl/meuk/IE-zindexbug.html */
ul.MenuBarActive
    z-index: 1000;
/* My Note --Top buttons' background, height and font size adjust-- */
/* Menu item containers, position children relative to this container and are a fixed width */
ul.MenuBarHorizontal li
    /* My note --I added the height and background-image as Main-Buttons.jpg-- */
    height: 55px;   
    background-image: url(../Main-Buttons.jpg);
    margin: -2;
    padding: 0;
    list-style-type: none;
    font-size: 100%;
    position: center;
    /*text-align: left;*/
    cursor: pointer;
    width: 99px;
    float: left;
/* My note --Submenu font size adjust-- */
/* Submenus should appear below their parent (top: 0) with a higher z-index, but they are initially off the left side of the screen (-1000em) */
ul.MenuBarHorizontal ul
    /*height:38px;*/
    margin: 0;
    padding: 0;
    list-style-type: none;
    font-size: 87%;
    z-index: 1020;
    cursor: default;
    width: 160px;
    position: absolute;
    left: -1000em;
/* Submenu that is showing with class designation MenuBarSubmenuVisible, we set left to auto so it comes onto the screen below its parent menu item */
ul.MenuBarHorizontal ul.MenuBarSubmenuVisible
    /* My note --this margin alligns the drop buttons up and down-- */
    margin-top: 24px;
    height: 25px;   
    left: auto;
/* My note --drop menu size adjustments-- */
/* Menu item containers are same fixed width as parent */
ul.MenuBarHorizontal ul li
    height: 25px;
    width: 160px;
/* Submenus should appear slightly overlapping to the right (95%) and up (-5%) */
ul.MenuBarHorizontal ul ul
    position:absolute;
    margin: -5% 0 0 95%;
/* Submenu that is showing with class designation MenuBarSubmenuVisible, we set left to 0 so it comes onto the screen */
ul.MenuBarHorizontal ul.MenuBarSubmenuVisible ul.MenuBarSubmenuVisible
    left: auto;
    top: 0;
DESIGN INFORMATION: describes color scheme, borders, fonts
/* Submenu containers have borders on all sides */
ul.MenuBarHorizontal ul
    /*border: 1px solid #CCC;*/
/* My note --Text Allignment global-- */
/* Menu items are a light gray block with padding and no text decoration */
ul.MenuBarHorizontal a
    /*height: 40px;*/
    text-align: center;
    /*vertical-align: center;*/
    display: block;
    cursor: pointer;
    padding: 0.5em 0.75em;
    text-decoration: none;
    /*zzzzzzzz Text Color*/
    color: #333;        /*background-color: #CCC;*/
    letter-spacing: -0.00px;
    margin-left: 1px;   
    margin-right: 0px;
    /*alligns text up or down globally*/
    margin-top: 1px;
/* Menu items that have mouse over or focus have a blue background and white text */
ul.MenuBarHorizontal a:hover, ul.MenuBarHorizontal a:focus
    /*background-color: #33C;
    color: #FFF;*/
/* Menu items that are open with submenus are set to MenuBarItemHover with a blue background and white text */
ul.MenuBarHorizontal a.MenuBarItemHover, ul.MenuBarHorizontal a.MenuBarItemSubmenuHover, ul.MenuBarHorizontal a.MenuBarSubmenuVisible
    background-image: url(../Main-Buttons-mouse-over.jpg);    /*background-color: #33C;
    color: #FFF;*/
SUBMENU INDICATION: styles if there is a submenu under a given menu item
/* Menu items that have a submenu have the class designation MenuBarItemSubmenu and are set to use a background image positioned on the far left (95%) and centered vertically (50%) */
ul.MenuBarHorizontal a.MenuBarItemSubmenu
    background-repeat: no-repeat;
    background-position: 95% 50%;
/* Menu items that have a submenu have the class designation MenuBarItemSubmenu and are set to use a background image positioned on the far left (95%) and centered vertically (50%) */
ul.MenuBarHorizontal ul a.MenuBarItemSubmenu
    background-repeat: no-repeat;
    background-position: 95% 50%;
/* Menu items that are open with submenus have the class designation MenuBarItemSubmenuHover and are set to use a "hover" background image positioned on the far left (95%) and centered vertically (50%) */
ul.MenuBarHorizontal a.MenuBarItemSubmenuHover
    background-repeat: no-repeat;
    background-position: 95% 50%;
/* My note --mouse over-- */
/* Menu items that are open with submenus have the class designation MenuBarItemSubmenuHover and are set to use a "hover" background image positioned on the far left (95%) and centered vertically (50%) */
ul.MenuBarHorizontal ul a.MenuBarItemSubmenuHover
    background-repeat: no-repeat;
    background-position: 95% 50%;
BROWSER HACKS: the hacks below should not be changed unless you are an expert
/* HACK FOR IE: to make sure the sub menus show above form controls, we underlay each submenu with an iframe */
ul.MenuBarHorizontal iframe
    position: absolute;
    z-index: 1010;
    filter:alpha(opacity:0.1);
/* HACK FOR IE: to stabilize appearance of menu items; the slash in float is to keep IE 5.0 from parsing */
@media screen, projection
    ul.MenuBarHorizontal li.MenuBarItemIE
        display: inline;
        f\loat: left;
        background: #FFF;
Here is the JavaScrip file named "SpryMenuBar.js" that has not been modified in any way:
// SpryMenuBar.js - version 0.12 - Spry Pre-Release 1.6.1
// Copyright (c) 2006. Adobe Systems Incorporated.
// All rights reserved.
// Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
// modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:
//   * Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice,
//     this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
//   * Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice,
//     this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation
//     and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
//   * Neither the name of Adobe Systems Incorporated nor the names of its
//     contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this
//     software without specific prior written permission.
// THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS"
// AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
// IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
// ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT OWNER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE
// LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR
// CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF
// SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS
// INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN
// CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE)
// ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE
// POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
SpryMenuBar.js
This file handles the JavaScript for Spry Menu Bar.  You should have no need
to edit this file.  Some highlights of the MenuBar object is that timers are
used to keep submenus from showing up until the user has hovered over the parent
menu item for some time, as well as a timer for when they leave a submenu to keep
showing that submenu until the timer fires.
var Spry; if (!Spry) Spry = {}; if (!Spry.Widget) Spry.Widget = {};
Spry.BrowserSniff = function()
    var b = navigator.appName.toString();
    var up = navigator.platform.toString();
    var ua = navigator.userAgent.toString();
    this.mozilla = this.ie = this.opera = this.safari = false;
    var re_opera = /Opera.([0-9\.]*)/i;
    var re_msie = /MSIE.([0-9\.]*)/i;
    var re_gecko = /gecko/i;
    var re_safari = /(applewebkit|safari)\/([\d\.]*)/i;
    var r = false;
    if ( (r = ua.match(re_opera))) {
        this.opera = true;
        this.version = parseFloat(r[1]);
    } else if ( (r = ua.match(re_msie))) {
        this.ie = true;
        this.version = parseFloat(r[1]);
    } else if ( (r = ua.match(re_safari))) {
        this.safari = true;
        this.version = parseFloat(r[2]);
    } else if (ua.match(re_gecko)) {
        var re_gecko_version = /rv:\s*([0-9\.]+)/i;
        r = ua.match(re_gecko_version);
        this.mozilla = true;
        this.version = parseFloat(r[1]);
    this.windows = this.mac = this.linux = false;
    this.Platform = ua.match(/windows/i) ? "windows" :
                    (ua.match(/linux/i) ? "linux" :
                    (ua.match(/mac/i) ? "mac" :
                    ua.match(/unix/i)? "unix" : "unknown"));
    this[this.Platform] = true;
    this.v = this.version;
    if (this.safari && this.mac && this.mozilla) {
        this.mozilla = false;
Spry.is = new Spry.BrowserSniff();
// Constructor for Menu Bar
// element should be an ID of an unordered list (<ul> tag)
// preloadImage1 and preloadImage2 are images for the rollover state of a menu
Spry.Widget.MenuBar = function(element, opts)
    this.init(element, opts);
Spry.Widget.MenuBar.prototype.init = function(element, opts)
    this.element = this.getElement(element);
    // represents the current (sub)menu we are operating on
    this.currMenu = null;
    this.showDelay = 250;
    this.hideDelay = 600;
    if(typeof document.getElementById == 'undefined' || (navigator.vendor == 'Apple Computer, Inc.' && typeof window.XMLHttpRequest == 'undefined') || (Spry.is.ie && typeof document.uniqueID == 'undefined'))
        // bail on older unsupported browsers
        return;
    // Fix IE6 CSS images flicker
    if (Spry.is.ie && Spry.is.version < 7){
        try {
            document.execCommand("BackgroundImageCache", false, true);
        } catch(err) {}
    this.upKeyCode = Spry.Widget.MenuBar.KEY_UP;
    this.downKeyCode = Spry.Widget.MenuBar.KEY_DOWN;
    this.leftKeyCode = Spry.Widget.MenuBar.KEY_LEFT;
    this.rightKeyCode = Spry.Widget.MenuBar.KEY_RIGHT;
    this.escKeyCode = Spry.Widget.MenuBar.KEY_ESC;
    this.hoverClass = 'MenuBarItemHover';
    this.subHoverClass = 'MenuBarItemSubmenuHover';
    this.subVisibleClass ='MenuBarSubmenuVisible';
    this.hasSubClass = 'MenuBarItemSubmenu';
    this.activeClass = 'MenuBarActive';
    this.isieClass = 'MenuBarItemIE';
    this.verticalClass = 'MenuBarVertical';
    this.horizontalClass = 'MenuBarHorizontal';
    this.enableKeyboardNavigation = true;
    this.hasFocus = false;
    // load hover images now
    if(opts)
        for(var k in opts)
            if (typeof this[k] == 'undefined')
                var rollover = new Image;
                rollover.src = opts[k];
        Spry.Widget.MenuBar.setOptions(this, opts);
    // safari doesn't support tabindex
    if (Spry.is.safari)
        this.enableKeyboardNavigation = false;
    if(this.element)
        this.currMenu = this.element;
        var items = this.element.getElementsByTagName('li');
        for(var i=0; i<items.length; i++)
            if (i > 0 && this.enableKeyboardNavigation)
                items[i].getElementsByTagName('a')[0].tabIndex='-1';
            this.initialize(items[i], element);
            if(Spry.is.ie)
                this.addClassName(items[i], this.isieClass);
                items[i].style.position = "static";
        if (this.enableKeyboardNavigation)
            var self = this;
            this.addEventListener(document, 'keydown', function(e){self.keyDown(e); }, false);
        if(Spry.is.ie)
            if(this.hasClassName(this.element, this.verticalClass))
                this.element.style.position = "relative";
            var linkitems = this.element.getElementsByTagName('a');
            for(var i=0; i<linkitems.length; i++)
                linkitems[i].style.position = "relative";
Spry.Widget.MenuBar.KEY_ESC = 27;
Spry.Widget.MenuBar.KEY_UP = 38;
Spry.Widget.MenuBar.KEY_DOWN = 40;
Spry.Widget.MenuBar.KEY_LEFT = 37;
Spry.Widget.MenuBar.KEY_RIGHT = 39;
Spry.Widget.MenuBar.prototype.getElement = function(ele)
    if (ele && typeof ele == "string")
        return document.getElementById(ele);
    return ele;
Spry.Widget.MenuBar.prototype.hasClassName = function(ele, className)
    if (!ele || !className || !ele.className || ele.className.search(new RegExp("\\b" + className + "\\b")) == -1)
        return false;
    return true;
Spry.Widget.MenuBar.prototype.addClassName = function(ele, className)
    if (!ele || !className || this.hasClassName(ele, className))
        return;
    ele.className += (ele.className ? " " : "") + className;
Spry.Widget.MenuBar.prototype.removeClassName = function(ele, className)
    if (!ele || !className || !this.hasClassName(ele, className))
        return;
    ele.className = ele.className.replace(new RegExp("\\s*\\b" + className + "\\b", "g"), "");
// addEventListener for Menu Bar
// attach an event to a tag without creating obtrusive HTML code
Spry.Widget.MenuBar.prototype.addEventListener = function(element, eventType, handler, capture)
    try
        if (element.addEventListener)
            element.addEventListener(eventType, handler, capture);
        else if (element.attachEvent)
            element.attachEvent('on' + eventType, handler);
    catch (e) {}
// createIframeLayer for Menu Bar
// creates an IFRAME underneath a menu so that it will show above form controls and ActiveX
Spry.Widget.MenuBar.prototype.createIframeLayer = function(menu)
    var layer = document.createElement('iframe');
    layer.tabIndex = '-1';
    layer.src = 'javascript:""';
    layer.frameBorder = '0';
    layer.scrolling = 'no';
    menu.parentNode.appendChild(layer);
    layer.style.left = menu.offsetLeft + 'px';
    layer.style.top = menu.offsetTop + 'px';
    layer.style.width = menu.offsetWidth + 'px';
    layer.style.height = menu.offsetHeight + 'px';
// removeIframeLayer for Menu Bar
// removes an IFRAME underneath a menu to reveal any form controls and ActiveX
Spry.Widget.MenuBar.prototype.removeIframeLayer =  function(menu)
    var layers = ((menu == this.element) ? menu : menu.parentNode).getElementsByTagName('iframe');
    while(layers.length > 0)
        layers[0].parentNode.removeChild(layers[0]);
// clearMenus for Menu Bar
// root is the top level unordered list (<ul> tag)
Spry.Widget.MenuBar.prototype.clearMenus = function(root)
    var menus = root.getElementsByTagName('ul');
    for(var i=0; i<menus.length; i++)
        this.hideSubmenu(menus[i]);
    this.removeClassName(this.element, this.activeClass);
// bubbledTextEvent for Menu Bar
// identify bubbled up text events in Safari so we can ignore them
Spry.Widget.MenuBar.prototype.bubbledTextEvent = function()
    return Spry.is.safari && (event.target == event.relatedTarget.parentNode || (event.eventPhase == 3 && event.target.parentNode == event.relatedTarget));
// showSubmenu for Menu Bar
// set the proper CSS class on this menu to show it
Spry.Widget.MenuBar.prototype.showSubmenu = function(menu)
    if(this.currMenu)
        this.clearMenus(this.currMenu);
        this.currMenu = null;
    if(menu)
        this.addClassName(menu, this.subVisibleClass);
        if(typeof document.all != 'undefined' && !Spry.is.opera && navigator.vendor != 'KDE')
            if(!this.hasClassName(this.element, this.horizontalClass) || menu.parentNode.parentNode != this.element)
                menu.style.top = menu.parentNode.offsetTop + 'px';
        if(Spry.is.ie && Spry.is.version < 7)
            this.createIframeLayer(menu);
    this.addClassName(this.element, this.activeClass);
// hideSubmenu for Menu Bar
// remove the proper CSS class on this menu to hide it
Spry.Widget.MenuBar.prototype.hideSubmenu = function(menu)
    if(menu)
        this.removeClassName(menu, this.subVisibleClass);
        if(typeof document.all != 'undefined' && !Spry.is.opera && navigator.vendor != 'KDE')
            menu.style.top = '';
            menu.style.left = '';
        if(Spry.is.ie && Spry.is.version < 7)
            this.removeIframeLayer(menu);
// initialize for Menu Bar
// create event listeners for the Menu Bar widget so we can properly
// show and hide submenus
Spry.Widget.MenuBar.prototype.initialize = function(listitem, element)
    var opentime, closetime;
    var link = listitem.getElementsByTagName('a')[0];
    var submenus = listitem.getElementsByTagName('ul');
    var menu = (submenus.length > 0 ? submenus[0] : null);
    if(menu)
        this.addClassName(link, this.hasSubClass);
    if(!Spry.is.ie)
        // define a simple function that comes standard in IE to determine
        // if a node is within another node
        listitem.contains = function(testNode)
            // this refers to the list item
            if(testNode == null)
                return false;
            if(testNode == this)
                return true;
            else
                return this.contains(testNode.parentNode);
    // need to save this for scope further down
    var self = this;
    this.addEventListener(listitem, 'mouseover', function(e){self.mouseOver(listitem, e);}, false);
    this.addEventListener(listitem, 'mouseout', function(e){if (self.enableKeyboardNavigation) self.clearSelection(); self.mouseOut(listitem, e);}, false);
    if (this.enableKeyboardNavigation)
        this.addEventListener(link, 'blur', function(e){self.onBlur(listitem);}, false);
        this.addEventListener(link, 'focus', function(e){self.keyFocus(listitem, e);}, false);
Spry.Widget.MenuBar.prototype.keyFocus = function (listitem, e)
    this.lastOpen = listitem.getElementsByTagName('a')[0];
    this.addClassName(this.lastOpen, listitem.getElementsByTagName('ul').length > 0 ? this.subHoverClass : this.hoverClass);
    this.hasFocus = true;
Spry.Widget.MenuBar.prototype.onBlur = function (listitem)
    this.clearSelection(listitem);
Spry.Widget.MenuBar.prototype.clearSelection = function(el){
    //search any intersection with the current open element
    if (!this.lastOpen)
        return;
    if (el)
        el = el.getElementsByTagName('a')[0];
        // check children
        var item = this.lastOpen;
        while (item != this.element)
            var tmp = el;
            while (tmp != this.element)
                if (tmp == item)
                    return;
                try{
                    tmp = tmp.parentNode;
                }catch(err){break;}
            item = item.parentNode;
    var item = this.lastOpen;
    while (item != this.element)
        this.hideSubmenu(item.parentNode);
        var link = item.getElementsByTagName('a')[0];
        this.removeClassName(link, this.hoverClass);
        this.removeClassName(link, this.subHoverClass);
        item = item.parentNode;
    this.lastOpen = false;
Spry.Widget.MenuBar.prototype.keyDown = function (e)
    if (!this.hasFocus)
        return;
    if (!this.lastOpen)
        this.hasFocus = false;
        return;
    var e = e|| event;
    var listitem = this.lastOpen.parentNode;
    var link = this.lastOpen;
    var submenus = listitem.getElementsByTagName('ul');
    var menu = (submenus.length > 0 ? submenus[0] : null);
    var hasSubMenu = (menu) ? true : false;
    var opts = [listitem, menu, null, this.getSibling(listitem, 'previousSibling'), this.getSibling(listitem, 'nextSibling')];
    if (!opts[3])
        opts[2] = (listitem.parentNode.parentNode.nodeName.toLowerCase() == 'li')?listitem.parentNode.parentNode:null;
    var found = 0;
    switch (e.keyCode){
        case this.upKeyCode:
            found = this.getElementForKey(opts, 'y', 1);
            break;
        case this.downKeyCode:
            found = this.getElementForKey(opts, 'y', -1);
            break;
        case this.leftKeyCode:
            found = this.getElementForKey(opts, 'x', 1);
            break;
        case this.rightKeyCode:
            found = this.getElementForKey(opts, 'x', -1);
            break;
        case this.escKeyCode:
        case 9:
            this.clearSelection();
            this.hasFocus = false;
        default: return;
    switch (found)
        case 0: return;
        case 1:
            //subopts
            this.mouseOver(listitem, e);
            break;
        case 2:
            //parent
            this.mouseOut(opts[2], e);
            break;
        case 3:
        case 4:
            // left - right
            this.removeClassName(link, hasSubMenu ? this.subHoverClass : this.hoverClass);
            break;
    var link = opts[found].getElementsByTagName('a')[0];
    if (opts[found].nodeName.toLowerCase() == 'ul')
        opts[found] = opts[found].getElementsByTagName('li')[0];
    this.addClassName(link, opts[found].getElementsByTagName('ul').length > 0 ? this.subHoverClass : this.hoverClass);
    this.lastOpen = link;
    opts[found].getElementsByTagName('a')[0].focus();
        //stop further event handling by the browser
    return Spry.Widget.MenuBar.stopPropagation(e);
Spry.Widget.MenuBar.prototype.mouseOver = function (listitem, e)
    var link = listitem.getElementsByTagName('a')[0];
    var submenus = listitem.getElementsByTagName('ul');
    var menu = (submenus.length > 0 ? submenus[0] : null);
    var hasSubMenu = (menu) ? true : false;
    if (this.enableKeyboardNavigation)
        this.clearSelection(listitem);
    if(this.bubbledTextEvent())
        // ignore bubbled text events
        return;
    if (listitem.closetime)
        clearTimeout(listitem.closetime);
    if(this.currMenu == listitem)
        this.currMenu = null;
    // move the focus too
    if (this.hasFocus)
        link.focus();
    // show menu highlighting
    this.addClassName(link, hasSubMenu ? this.subHoverClass : this.hoverClass);
    this.lastOpen = link;
    if(menu && !this.hasClassName(menu, this.subHoverClass))
        var self = this;
        listitem.opentime = window.setTimeout(function(){self.showSubmenu(menu);}, this.showDelay);
Spry.Widget.MenuBar.prototype.mouseOut = function (listitem, e)
    var link = listitem.getElementsByTagName('a')[0];
    var submenus = listitem.getElementsByTagName('ul');
    var menu = (submenus.length > 0 ? submenus[0] : null);
    var hasSubMenu = (menu) ? true : false;
    if(this.bubbledTextEvent())
        // ignore bubbled text events
        return;
    var related = (typeof e.relatedTarget != 'undefined' ? e.relatedTarget : e.toElement);
    if(!listitem.contains(related))
        if (listitem.opentime)
            clearTimeout(listitem.opentime);
        this.currMenu = listitem;
        // remove menu highlighting
        this.removeClassName(link, hasSubMenu ? this.subHoverClass : this.hoverClass);
        if(menu)
            var self = this;
            listitem.closetime = window.setTimeout(function(){self.hideSubmenu(menu);}, this.hideDelay);
        if (this.hasFocus)
            link.blur();
Spry.Widget.MenuBar.prototype.getSibling = function(element, sibling)
    var child = element[sibling];
    while (child && child.nodeName.toLowerCase() !='li')
        child = child[sibling];
    return child;
Spry.Widget.MenuBar.prototype.getElementForKey = function(els, prop, dir)
    var found = 0;
    var rect = Spry.Widget.MenuBar.getPosition;
    var ref = rect(els[found]);
    var hideSubmenu = false;
    //make the subelement visible to compute the position
    if (els[1] && !this.hasClassName(els[1], this.MenuBarSubmenuVisible))
        els[1].style.visibility = 'hidden';
        this.showSubmenu(els[1]);
        hideSubmenu = true;
    var isVert = this.hasClassName(this.element, this.verticalClass);
    var hasParent = els[0].parentNode.parentNode.nodeName.toLowerCase() == 'li' ? true : false;
    for (var i = 1; i < els.length; i++){
        //when navigating on the y axis in vertical menus, ignore children and parents
        if(prop=='y' && isVert && (i==1 || i==2))
            continue;
        //when navigationg on the x axis in the FIRST LEVEL of horizontal menus, ignore children and parents
        if(prop=='x' && !isVert && !hasParent && (i==1 || i==2))
            continue;
        if (els[i])
            var tmp = rect(els[i]);
            if ( (dir * tmp[prop]) < (dir * ref[prop]))
                ref = tmp;
                found = i;
    // hide back the submenu
    if (els[1] && hideSubmenu){
        this.hideSubmenu(els[1]);
        els[1].style.visibility =  '';
    return found;
Spry.Widget.MenuBar.camelize = function(str)
    if (str.indexOf('-') == -1){
        return str;   
    var oStringList = str.split('-');
    var isFirstEntry = true;
    var camelizedString = '';
    for(var i=0; i < oStringList.length; i++)
        if(oStringList[i].length>0)
            if(isFirstEntry)
                camelizedString = oStringList[i];
                isFirstEntry = false;
            else
                var s = oStringList[i];
                camelizedString += s.charAt(0).toUpperCase() + s.substring(1);
    return camelizedString;
Spry.Widget.MenuBar.getStyleProp = function(element, prop)
    var value;
    try
        if (element.style)
            value = element.style[Spry.Widget.MenuBar.camelize(prop)];
        if (!value)
            if (document.defaultView && document.defaultView.getComputedStyle)
                var css = document.defaultView.getComputedStyle(element, null);
                value = css ? css.getPropertyValue(prop) : null;
            else if (element.currentStyle)
                    value = element.currentStyle[Spry.Widget.MenuBar.camelize(prop)];
    catch (e) {}
    return value == 'auto' ? null : value;
Spry.Widget.MenuBar.getIntProp = function(element, prop)
    var a = parseInt(Spry.Widget.MenuBar.getStyleProp(element, prop),10);
    if (isNaN(a))
        return 0;
    return a;
Spry.Widget.MenuBar.getPosition = function(el, doc)
    doc = doc || document;
    if (typeof(el) == 'string') {
        el = doc.getElementById(el);
    if (!el) {
        return false;
    if (el.parentNode === null || Spry.Widget.MenuBar.getStyleProp(el, 'display') == 'none') {
        //element must be visible to have a box
        return false;
    var ret = {x:0, y:0};
    var parent = null;
    var box;
    if (el.getBoundingClientRect) { // IE
        box = el.getBoundingClientRect();
        var scrollTop = doc.documentElement.scrollTop || doc.body.scrollTop;
        var scrollLeft = doc.documentElement.scrollLeft || doc.body.scrollLeft;
        ret.x = box.left + scrollLeft;
        ret.y = box.top + scrollTop;
    } else if (doc.getBoxObjectFor) { // gecko
        box = doc.getBoxObjectFor(el);
        ret.x = box.x;
        ret.y = box.y;
    } else { // safari/opera
        ret.x = el.offsetLeft;
        ret.y = el.offsetTop;
        parent = el.offsetParent;
        if (parent != el) {
            while (parent) {
                ret.x += parent.offsetLeft;
                ret.y += parent.offsetTop;
                parent = parent.offsetParent;
        // opera & (safari absolute) incorrectly account for body offsetTop
        if (Spry.is.opera || Spry.is.safari && Spry.Widget.MenuBar.getStyleProp(el, 'position') == 'absolute')
            ret.y -= doc.body.offsetTop;
    if (el.parentNode)
            parent = el.parentNode;
    else
        parent = null;
    if (parent.nodeName){
        var cas = parent.nodeName.toUpperCase();
        while (parent && cas != 'BODY' && cas != 'HTML') {
            cas = parent.nodeName.toUpperCase();
            ret.x -= parent.scrollLeft;
            ret.y -= parent.scrollTop;
            if (parent.parentNode)
                parent = parent.parentNode;
            else
                parent = null;
    return ret;
Spry.Widget.MenuBar.stopPropagation = function(ev)
    if (ev.stopPropagation)
        ev.stopPropagation();
    else
        ev.cancelBubble = true;
    if (ev.preventDefault)
        ev.preventDefault();
    else
        ev.returnValue = false;
Spry.Widget.MenuBar.setOptions = function(obj, optionsObj, ignoreUndefinedProps)
    if (!optionsObj)
        return;
    for (var optionName in optionsObj)
        if (ignoreUndefinedProps && optionsObj[optionName] == undefined)
            continue;
        obj[optionName] = optionsObj[optionName];
And last, here is the HTML code that has also not been modified in any way:
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" />
<title>Untitled Document</title>
<script src="../BXC Main Navigation Spry Drop Menu/SpryAssets/SpryMenuBar.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<link href="../BXC Main Navigation Spry Drop Menu/SpryAssets/SpryMenuBarHorizontal4.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" />
</head>
<body>
<ul id="MenuBar1" class="MenuBarHorizontal">
  <li><a class="MenuBarItemSubmenu" href="#">Buy</a>
    <ul>
      <li><a href="#">Shop from Private Owner</a></li>
      <li><a href="#">Shop Direct from Stores</a></li>
      <li><a href="#">Help Buying</a></li>
    </ul>
  </li>
  <li><a href="#" class="MenuBarItemSubmenu">Bid</a>
    <ul>
      <li><a href="#">Shop from Auction</a></li>
      <li><a href="#">Help Bidding</a></li>
    </ul>
  </li>
  <li><a href="#" class="MenuBarItemSubmenu">Trade</a>
    <ul>
      <li><a href="#">Shop for Trades</a></li>
      <li><a href="#">Help Trading</a></li>
    </ul>
  </li>
  <li><a class="MenuBarItemSubmenu" href="#">List Items</a>
    <ul>
      <li><a href="#">List Items in Auction</a></li>
      <li><a href="#">List Items for Sale</a></li>
      <li><a href="#">List Items for Trade</a></li>
      <li><a href="#">Help Listing Items</a></li>
    </ul>
  </li>
  <li><a href="#" class="MenuBarItemSubmenu">Intro</a>
    <ul>
      <li><a href="#">Flash Site & Intro</a></li>
      <li><a href="#">About Us</a></li>
    </ul>
  </li>
  <li><a href="#" class="MenuBarItemSubmenu">My Xchange</a>
    <ul>
      <li><a href="#">Activity</a></li>
      <li><a href="#">Account</a></li>
      <li><a href="#">Mail</a></li>
    </ul>
  </li>
  <li><a href="#">Contact Us</a></li>
  <li><a href="#" class="MenuBarItemSubmenu">Help</a>
    <ul>
      <li><a href="#">Main Help</a></li>
      <li><a href="#">Site Map</a></li>
    </ul>
  </li>
</ul>
<script type="text/javascript">
<!--
var MenuBar1 = new Spry.Widget.MenuBar("MenuBar1", {imgDown:"../SpryAssets/SpryMenuBarDownHover.gif", imgRight:"../SpryAssets/SpryMenuBarRightHover.gif"});
//-->
</script>
</body>
</html>
Thanks in advance for any of your help.
Jose H.

Answer 1

Hello Nancy,
I was troubleshooting For the next 8 hours after my post here and eventually I got it right, I uploaded the files to the test server and at the time did not have the chance to post the solution here. This is why, as you saw, it is working correctly now.  Both the CSS and HTML files needed modifications. While working on the code I had to run IE8, Chrome and Firefox simultaneously and refresh all three after every change in the code because what would fix the problem in one would cause a problem for the other.
In addition to the problems listed in my original post, there were also other graphical issues in IE8, such as; the main menu buttons without sub-menus would only display at half their size vertically. The border around the buttons would not display despite that the background images were rendered in Photoshop as flattened JPEGs with boarders as part of the background image. Being so, I removed all borders from the CSS script.
By the way.. the IE8 security measure did pop up while working from the server.
Anyhow for those of you who are experiencing similar problems you can take a look at the working code bellow and compare it to the initial code. I've included detail comments on every line I have changed, modified or added.
Good luck.. as I know it can become a complicated task when creating custom Spry menus.
<b>Here is the finished CSS script</b>
<code>@charset "UTF-8";
/* SpryMenuBarHorizontal.css - version 0.6 - Spry Pre-Release 1.6.1 */
/* Copyright (c) 2006. Adobe Systems Incorporated. All rights reserved. */
LAYOUT INFORMATION: describes box model, positioning, z-order
/* The outermost container of the Menu Bar, an auto width box with no margin or padding */
ul.MenuBarHorizontal
    margin: 10;
    padding: 0;
    list-style-type: none;
    /* font size for top menu*/
    font-size: 80%;
    cursor: default;
    width: auto;
    font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;
    font-weight: bold;
    text-align: center;
    /*whole menu moves*/
    margin-left: 100px;
/* Set the active Menu Bar with this class, currently setting z-index to accomodate IE rendering bug: http://therealcrisp.xs4all.nl/meuk/IE-zindexbug.html */
ul.MenuBarActive
    z-index: 1000;
/* My Note --Top buttons' background, height and font size adjust-- */
/* Menu item containers, position children relative to this container and are a fixed width */
ul.MenuBarHorizontal li
    /* My note --I added the height and background-image as Main-Buttons.jpg-- */
    height: 55px;   
    background-image: url(../Main-Buttons.jpg);
    margin: -2;
    padding: 0;
    list-style-type: none;
    font-size: 100%;
    position: center;
    /*text-align: left;*/
    cursor: pointer;
    width: 99px;
    float: left;
/* My note --Submenu font size adjust-- */
/* Submenus should appear below their parent (top: 0) with a higher z-index, but they are initially off the left side of the screen (-1000em) */
ul.MenuBarHorizontal ul
    margin: 0;
    padding: 0;
    list-style-type: none;
    font-size: 87%;
    z-index: 1020;
    cursor: default;
    width: 160px;
    position: absolute;
    left: -1000em;
/* Submenu that is showing with class designation MenuBarSubmenuVisible, we set left to auto so it comes onto the screen below its parent menu item */
ul.MenuBarHorizontal ul.MenuBarSubmenuVisible
    /* My note --this margin alligns the drop buttons up and down-- */
    margin-top: 0px;
    height: 25px;
    left: auto;
/* My note --drop menu size adjustments-- */
/* Menu item containers are same fixed width as parent */
ul.MenuBarHorizontal ul li
    height: 25px;
    width: 162px;
    /* New addition */
/* Submenus should appear slightly overlapping to the right (95%) and up (-5%) */
ul.MenuBarHorizontal ul ul
    position:absolute;
    margin: -5% 0 0 95%;
/* Submenu that is showing with class designation MenuBarSubmenuVisible, we set left to 0 so it comes onto the screen */
ul.MenuBarHorizontal ul.MenuBarSubmenuVisible ul.MenuBarSubmenuVisible
    left: auto;
    top: 0;
DESIGN INFORMATION: describes color scheme, borders, fonts
/* Submenu containers have borders on all sides */
ul.MenuBarHorizontal ul
    /*border: 1px solid #CCC;*/
/* My note --Text Allignment global-- */
/* Menu items are a light gray block with padding and no text decoration */
ul.MenuBarHorizontal a
    /*My note -- took out borders &amp; changed text color to #333(black)&amp; added my own mouse not over image-- */   
    /*border: 0px solid #333332;*/
    background-image: url(../Main-Buttons.jpg);
    /*height: 40px;*/
    text-align: center;   
    display: block;
    cursor: pointer;
    padding: 0.5em 0.75em;
    text-decoration: none;
    /*My note --Text Color-- */
    color: #333;        /*background-color: was #CCC;*/
    letter-spacing: -0.00px;
    margin-left: 1px;   
    margin-right: 0px;
    /*alligns text up or down globally*/
    margin-top: 1px;
/* Menu items that have mouse over or focus have a blue background and white text */
ul.MenuBarHorizontal a:hover, ul.MenuBarHorizontal a:focus
    /* My note --took out all backgound &amp; text color for mouse over-- */
    /*background-color: #33C;
    color: #FFF;*/
/* Menu items that are open with submenus are set to MenuBarItemHover with a blue background and white text */
ul.MenuBarHorizontal a.MenuBarItemHover, ul.MenuBarHorizontal a.MenuBarItemSubmenuHover, ul.MenuBarHorizontal a.MenuBarSubmenuVisible
    /*My note -- took out background &amp; text &amp; added my own mouse over image-- */
    background-image: url(../Main-Buttons-mouse-over.jpg);
    /*background-color: #33C;
    color: #FFF;*/
SUBMENU INDICATION: styles if there is a submenu under a given menu item
/* Menu items that have a submenu have the class designation MenuBarItemSubmenu and are set to use a background image positioned on the far left (95%) and centered vertically (50%) */
ul.MenuBarHorizontal a.MenuBarItemSubmenu
    /* My note --!!!!!This height setting adjusts the main buttons' background height in IE8!!!!-- */
    height: 40px;
    background-repeat: no-repeat;
    background-position: 95% 50%;
/* Menu items that have a submenu have the class designation MenuBarItemSubmenu and are set to use a background image positioned on the far left (95%) and centered vertically (50%) */
ul.MenuBarHorizontal ul a.MenuBarItemSubmenu
    background-repeat: no-repeat;
    background-position: 95% 50%;
/* Menu items that are open with submenus have the class designation MenuBarItemSubmenuHover and are set to use a "hover" background image positioned on the far left (95%) and centered vertically (50%) */
ul.MenuBarHorizontal a.MenuBarItemSubmenuHover
    background-repeat: no-repeat;
    background-position: 95% 50%;
/* My note --mouse over-- */
/* Menu items that are open with submenus have the class designation MenuBarItemSubmenuHover and are set to use a "hover" background image positioned on the far left (95%) and centered vertically (50%) */
ul.MenuBarHorizontal ul a.MenuBarItemSubmenuHover
    background-repeat: no-repeat;
    background-position: 95% 50%;
BROWSER HACKS: the hacks below should not be changed unless you are an expert
/* HACK FOR IE: to make sure the sub menus show above form controls, we underlay each submenu with an iframe */
ul.MenuBarHorizontal iframe
    position: absolute;
    z-index: 1010;
    filter:alpha(opacity:0.1);
/* HACK FOR IE: to stabilize appearance of menu items; the slash in float is to keep IE 5.0 from parsing */
@media screen, projection
    ul.MenuBarHorizontal li.MenuBarItemIE
        display: inline;
        f&#92;loat: left;
        /* My note --The backgound color below was changed here to the same color #3e6487 as the darkest tone in the background image graphic to mimic the original image borders; dark blue, since IE8 for some reason would cut them out. This change allows this dark blue background to display around the main top buttons in IE8 giving the appearance of borders*/
        background: #3e6487;
</code>
<b>Here is the modified HTML script</b>
<code>&lt;!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"&gt;
&lt;html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"&gt;
&lt;head&gt;
&lt;meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /&gt;
&lt;title&gt;Untitled Document&lt;/title&gt;
&lt;script src="/SpryAssets/SpryMenuBar.js" type="text/javascript"&gt;&lt;/script&gt;
&lt;link href="/SpryAssets/SpryMenuBarHorizontal4.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" /&gt;
&lt;/head&gt;
&lt;body&gt;
&lt;ul id="MenuBar1" class="MenuBarHorizontal"&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;&lt;a class="MenuBarItemSubmenu" href="#"&gt;Buy&lt;/a&gt;
    &lt;ul&gt;
      &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="#"&gt;Shop from Private Owner&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
      &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="#"&gt;Shop Direct from Stores&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
      &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="#"&gt;Help Buying&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
    &lt;/ul&gt;
  &lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="#" class="MenuBarItemSubmenu"&gt;Bid&lt;/a&gt;
    &lt;ul&gt;
      &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="#"&gt;Shop from Auction&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
      &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="#"&gt;Help Bidding&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
    &lt;/ul&gt;
  &lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="#" class="MenuBarItemSubmenu"&gt;Trade&lt;/a&gt;
    &lt;ul&gt;
      &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="#"&gt;Shop for Trades&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
      &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="#"&gt;Help Trading&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
    &lt;/ul&gt;
  &lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;&lt;a class="MenuBarItemSubmenu" href="#"&gt;List Items&lt;/a&gt;
    &lt;ul&gt;
      &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="#"&gt;List Items in Auction&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
      &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="#"&gt;List Items for Sale&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
      &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="#"&gt;List Items for Trade&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
      &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="#"&gt;Help Listing Items&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
    &lt;/ul&gt;
  &lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="#" class="MenuBarItemSubmenu"&gt;Intro&lt;/a&gt;
    &lt;ul&gt;
      &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="#"&gt;Flash Site &amp;amp; Intro&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
      &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="#"&gt;About Us&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
    &lt;/ul&gt;
  &lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="#" class="MenuBarItemSubmenu"&gt;My Xchange&lt;/a&gt;
    &lt;ul&gt;
      &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="#"&gt;Activity&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
      &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="#"&gt;Account&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
      &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="#"&gt;Mail&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
    &lt;/ul&gt;
  &lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;!-- My note --the bellow line was: &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="#"&gt;Contact Us&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt; --- changing it to: &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="#" class="MenuBarItemSubmenu"&gt;Contact Us&lt;/a&gt;     corrected the height of the Contact us button wich did not have sub menus and because of this only diplayed at half size vertically in IE8 //--&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="#" class="MenuBarItemSubmenu"&gt;Contact Us&lt;/a&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="#" class="MenuBarItemSubmenu"&gt;Help&lt;/a&gt;
    &lt;ul&gt;
      &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="#"&gt;Main Help&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
      &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="#"&gt;Site Map&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
    &lt;/ul&gt;
  &lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;script type="text/javascript"&gt;
&lt;!--
var MenuBar1 = new Spry.Widget.MenuBar("MenuBar1", {imgDown:"../SpryAssets/SpryMenuBarDownHover.gif", imgRight:"../SpryAssets/SpryMenuBarRightHover.gif"});
//--&gt;
&lt;/script&gt;
&lt;/body&gt;
&lt;/html&gt;
</code>
And Richard.. Thanks again for the time and your help, truly appreciated.
Jose H.