So in jQuery, I have a global variable "currentSubNav" that stores a current visible element. The following code executes on "mouseenter". I need it to get store element's ID, check to see if there was one. If there wasn't, set the new visible element to the default. $('#mainMenu a').mouseenter(function() { var newName = $(this).attr("id"); if(newName == ''){ var newName = "default"; } Then it checks to see if the new element matches the current one. If so, it returns. If not, it performs the animations to bring in the new one. if(newName == currentSubNav){ return; }else{ $("div[name=" + currentSubNav + "]").animate({"left": "+=600px", "opacity": "toggle"}, "slow"); $("div[name=" + newName + "]").css({"margin-top": "0"}); $("div[name=" + newName + "]").fadeIn(2000); $("div[name=" + currentSubNav + "]").animate({"left": "-=600px"}, 0); currentSubNav = newName; return; } }); I'm using Chrome at the moment, and according to the dev tools that isn't what happens. Problem #1 "$(this).attr("id");" isn't returning undefined as the documentation claims. It seems to be returning "". BUT, when I have the if statement as I do above, it skips over the statement entirely. I set a breakpoint, but it never pauses execuation, so the statement is never evaluated. Problem #2 After the animations occur, instead of using the return at the end of the statements it goes back and uses the return for the "newName == currentSubNav" if statement. I guess that not a big deal, but it's not the intended behavior. I'm fairly new to JavaScript, and it appears I'm missing something about how JavaScript works. But I can't find what anywhere. Any help? Blockquote