This article on quirksmode ( near the bottom ) has an explanation of what you are experiencing and a script that might help you. There is a lot of cross browser info regarding mouse events too
OK, here's some working code. I don't promise this is the most efficient or that it won't cause memory leaks in IE (or that it works in IE - please let me know ). This is why people use libraries, much safer and easier.
// a general purpose, cross browser event adder
// returns a function that if run removes the event
function addEvent( el, eventType, handler, capturing ) {
if( el.addEventListener ) {
el.addEventListener( eventType, handler, capturing || false );
var removeEvent = function() { el.removeEventListener( eventType, handler, capturing || false ) };
} else if( el.attachEvent ) {
var fn = function() {
handler.call( el, normalise( window.event ) );
};
el.attachEvent( 'on'+eventType, fn );
var removeEvent = function(){ el.detachEvent( 'on'+eventType, fn ) };
}
function normalise( e ) {
e.target = e.srcElement;
e.relatedTarget = e.toElement;
e.preventDefault = function(){ e.returnValue = false };
e.stopPropagation = function(){ e.cancelBubble = true };
return e;
};
return removeEvent;
};
// adds mouseover and mouseout event handlers to a dom element
// mouseover and out events on child elements are ignored by this element
// returns a function that when run removes the events
// you need to send in both handlers - an empty function will do
function addMouseOverOutEvents( element, overHandler, outHandler ) {
function out( e ) {
var fromEl = e.target;
var toEl = e.relatedTarget;
// if the mouseout didn't originate at our element we can ignore it
if( fromEl != element ) return;
// if the element we rolled onto is a child of our element we can ignore it
while( toEl ) {
toEl = toEl.parentNode;
if( toEl == element ) return;
}
outHandler.call( element, e );
}
function over( e ) {
var toEl = e.target;
var fromEl = e.relatedTarget;
// if the mouseover didn't originate at our element we can ignore it
if( toEl != element ) return;
// if the element we rolled from is a child of our element we can ignore it
while( fromEl ) {
fromEl = fromEl.parentNode;
if( fromEl == element ) return;
}
overHandler.call( element, e );
}
var killers = [];
killers.push( addEvent( element, 'mouseover', over ) );
killers.push( addEvent( element, 'mouseout', out ) );
return function() {
killers[0]();
killers[1]();
}
}
Example of use:
// add the events
var remover = addMouseOverOutEvents(
document.getElementById( 'elementId' ),
function( e ) {
this.style.background = 'red';
console.log( 'rolled in: '+e.target.id );
},
function( e ) {
this.style.background = 'blue'
console.log( 'rolled out: '+e.target.id );
}
);
//remove the events
remover();