Problems with a from CSS - css

Question

I am trying to create a fairly basic form with in my maincontent. I am sure I am coding things incorrectly and it is driving me crazy. Note my code. I get extremely wide vertical spacing in IE 7 and the bacground color between the field sets does not work correctly. All is good in FF.
My CSS is:
fieldset {
margin: 1.5em 0 0 0;
padding: 0;
border-style: none;
border-top: 1px solid #BFBAB0;
background-color: #FFFFFF;
}
legend {
margin-left: 1em;
color: #000000;
font-weight: bold;
}
fieldset ol {
padding: 1em 1em 0 1em;
list-style: none;
}
fieldset li {
padding-bottom: 1em;
}
fieldset.submit {
border-style: none;
}
{
var w = document.myform.mylist.selectedIndex;
var selected_text = document.myform.mylist.options[w].text;
alert(selected_text);
}
label em {
display: block;
color: #900;
font-size: 85%;
font-style: normal;
text-transform: uppercase;
}
This is my html code.
<div id="mainContent1">
<form name="myform">
<label for="mylist"><strong>Select an Account Type:</strong></label>
<select name="mylist"><option value="traditional">Traditional Account</option>
<option value="paperless">Paperless Account</option>
</select>
</form>
<br /><a> </a>
<form action="example.php">
<fieldset>
<legend>Contact Details</legend>
<ol>
<li>
<label for="name">Name:</label>
<input id="name" name="name" class="text" type="text" />
<label for="name">
<em>required</em>
</label>
</li>
<li>
<label for="email">Email address:</label>
<input id="email" name="email" class="text" type="text" />
<label for="name">
<em>required</em>
</li>
<li>
<label for="phone">Telephone:</label>
<input id="phone" name="phone" class="text" type="text" />
<label for="name">
<em>required</em>
<ol>
<li>
<input id="option1" name="option1"
class="checkbox" type="checkbox" value="1" />
<label for="option1">Savings</label>
</li>
<li>
<input id="option2" name="option2"
class="checkbox" type="checkbox" value="1" />
<label for="option2">Checkings</label>
</li>
</ol>
</fieldset>
<fieldset>
<legend>Delivery Address</legend>
<ol>
<li>
<label for="address1">Address 1:</label>
<input id="address1" name="address1" class="text"
type="text" />
</li>
<li>
<label for="city">City:</label>
<input id="city" name="city" class="text" type="text" />
</li>
<li>
<label for="postcode">Zip Code:</label>
<input id="postcode" name="postcode"
class="text textSmall" type="text" />
</li>
<li>
<label for="country">Country:</label>
<input id="country" name="country" class="text" type="text" />
</li>
</ol>
</fieldset>
<fieldset class="submit">
<input class="submit" type="submit" value="Submit" />
</fieldset>
<fieldset class="clear">
<input class="clear" type="clear"
value="Submit" />
</fieldset>
</form>

Answer 1

First, get rid of the script in your CSS file...
Firefox/compliant browsers and IE treat legends and fieldsets very differently, unfortunately... that may be the problem you're seeing:
http://www.456bereastreet.com/lab/styling-form-controls-revisited/fieldset/

Answer 2

make sure there is a "#" before your id's and a "." before your classes in your css file. not doing so causes confusion.