[Dr.Jeckyl]

i've tried that but for some reason it doesn't work.
http://204.11.239.66/forum/showthread.php?p=94#post94

<div class="smallfont" style="margin-bottom:2px">$vbphrase[quote]:</div>
	<table width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="$stylevar[cellpadding]" cellspacing="0" bgcolor="#E4E6DB">
      <tr>
        <td bordercolor="" bgcolor="#E4E6DB" class="alt2" style="border:dashed"> <if condition="$show['username']">
          <div><phrase 1="$username">$vbphrase[originally_posted_by_x]</phrase></div>
          <div style="font-style:italic">$message</div>
        <else /> $message </if> </td>
      </tr>
    </table>

snipped code to follow rules

ok some progress... the border is now dashed but in firefox it's the correct color, black but in ie it's white and the background color of the box field is still not correct.

fixed:

<div class="smallfont" style="margin-bottom:2px">$vbphrase[quote]:</div>
	<table width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="$stylevar[cellpadding]" cellspacing="0" bgcolor="#E4E6DB">
      <tr>
        <td bordercolor="#000000" bgcolor="#E4E6DB" class="" style="border:double"> <if condition="$show['username']">
          <div><phrase 1="$username">$vbphrase[originally_posted_by_x]</phrase></div>
          <div style="font-style:italic">$message</div>
        <else /> $message </if> </td>
      </tr>
    </table>

thanks for the help.