onkeydown event for html form not firing in IE 7 or FF 3

Answer 1

I think the problem is that the onkeydown check is made on the form.

Try moving it to the body element, or better, use javascript to add the event handler to a window event:

function handleKeypress(e){

       var keycode = e.keyCode || e.charCode;

       if (keycode == 113) {
            var txtbx = document.getElementById("txtbx_login")
            txtbx.style.display = "";
            var lbl = document.getElementById("lbl_login")
            lbl.style.display = "none";
        }

    }
    window.onkeypress = handleKeypress;

In firefox you'll need to use event.charCode as well. I haven't tested the above in all browsers but it's a start.