<FORM NAME="election">
<SELECT NAME="presidents">
<OPTION NAME="leaving">Al Gore
<OPTION SELECTED>George W. Bush
</SELECT>   
<INPUT TYPE="button" VALUE="Switch first option" onclick="document.election.presidents.item(0).text =
 'Bill Clinton'">
</FORM>

Click the button below and see how the first option is changing on the fly:

<FORM NAME="election">
<SELECT NAME="new">
<OPTION NAME="leaving">Al Gore
<OPTION SELECTED>George W. Bush
</SELECT>   
<INPUT TYPE="button" VALUE="Switch first option" onclick="document.election.new.item(0).text =
 'Bill Clinton'">
</FORM>

But the token new cannot be used that casually. The JavaScript interpreter cannot handle it as a name, and will complaint to you. Internet Explorer will show a warning icon in the status bar. Double-click it to see a new window with a cryptic message. Your defaults may be set to always display the error window. In Netscape 6, you need to go to the Task/Tools/JavaScript Console and see the errors there. Try it now.

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