PRB: No Filter Applied to <SPAN>,<DIV> If Attributes Unspecified (181074)

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Internet Explorer (Programming) 4.0

This article was previously published under Q181074

SYMPTOMS

When a Visual Filter such as an Alpha or Blur filter is defined for a <DIV> or <SPAN> element, the filter is not applied and no visual effect is displayed.

Alternatively, when a filter defined for a <SPAN> or <DIV> element is scripted, the following scripting error is generated

'elementID.filters.item(...)' is not an object

where elementID is the ID of the element on which the filter is defined.

CAUSE

Visual filters can be applied to DIV and SPAN elements only if they have the following style attributes explicitly defined: width, height, or absolute position.

RESOLUTION

When using a <SPAN> or a <DIV>, be sure to specify at least one of the three required cascading style sheets (CSS) attributes:

height,
width
position (absolute or relative)

The following example illustrates this, with the required absolute position attribute defined:

<DIV style="position:absolute;
            top:60;
            left:20;
            color:red;
            filter: alpha(opacity=50)">
  <P style="font-size:14pt">Item #1</P>
  <UL>
    <LI>Bullet #1
    <LI>Bullet #2
  </UL>
</DIV>

STATUS

This behavior is by design.

MORE INFORMATION

Visual filters can be applied only to HTML elements that are controls. A control element defines a rectangular space within a browser window when the browser renders the Web document. Controls cannot be windowed, such as an IFRAME. Here are the valid HTML controls:

BODY
BUTTON
DIV (with a defined height, width, or absolute positioning)
IMG
INPUT
MARQUEE
SPAN (with a defined height, width, or absolute positioning)
TABLE
TD
TEXTAREA
TFOOT
TH
THEAD
TR

REFERENCES

For more information about developing Web-based solutions for Microsoft Internet Explorer, visit the following Microsoft Web sites:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/ie/

http://support.microsoft.com/iep

Modification Type:	Major	Last Reviewed:	5/11/2006
Keywords:	kbprb KB181074