window.onload = initAll; function initAll(){ var tds = document.getElementById("myTR").getElementsByTagName("td"); for(var i=0; i< tds.length; i++){ tds.onmouseover = doThis; tds.onmouseout = undoThis; } } function doThis(){ var element = document.getElementById(this.id); switch(this.id){ case "td1": element.blahblah = something; // do stuff related to the element here break; default: //default break; } //code related globally } function undoThis(){ //here change the background to default }