[tipoboy]

ok i've moved the if conditionals so the code now looks like

<!-- top -->
<table class="forumbit1" width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0">
  <tr>
    <td class="cattitle" width="35" valign="top"><img src="$stylevar[imgdir_misc]/cattitle_left.gif" width="35" height="47" alt="&nbsp;" /></td>
    <td class="cattitle" width="85%">
 <a href="forumdisplay.php?$session[sessionurl]f=$forum[forumid]"><strong>$forum[title]</strong></a> 
<span class="smallfont">$forum[description]</span>
</td>
    <td class="cattitle" valign="top">
 
 <div align="right">
 <img src="$stylevar[imgdir_misc]/cattitle_right.gif" width="35" height="47" alt="&nbsp;" /> 
</div></td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td colspan="3">
 
<if condition="$childforumbits"> 
<table class="tborder" cellpadding="$stylevar[cellpadding]" cellspacing="$stylevar[cellspacing]" border="0" width="95%" align="center">
<tbody id="collapseobj_forumbit_$forumid" style="{$collapseobj_forumid}">
 <tr align="center">
   <td class="thead" width="5%">&nbsp;</td>
   <td class="thead" width="45%" align="$stylevar[left]">$vbphrase[forum]</td>
           <td class="thead">&nbsp;</td>
   <td class="thead" width="30%">$vbphrase[last_post]</td>
   <td class="thead" width="10%">$vbphrase[threads]</td>
   <td class="thead" width="10%">$vbphrase[posts]</td>
   <if condition="$vboptions[showmoderatorcolumn]">
   <td class="thead">$vbphrase[moderator]</td>
  </if>
  </tr>
$childforumbits 
</tbody> 
</table>
</if>
</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td class="catfooter"><img src="$stylevar[imgdir_misc]/catfooter_left.gif" alt="&nbsp;" /></td>
    <td class="catfooter">&nbsp;</td>
    <td class="catfooter"><div align="right"><img src="$stylevar[imgdir_misc]/catfooter_right.gif" alt="&nbsp;" /></div></td>
  </tr>
</table>
<!-- /top -->

but still the same errors i've highlighted in red the line that the error appertains to

thanks again for the quick replay