I thought one could access attribute properties with . syntax, but not so with class?

I captured several tags by there ids

z.B. firstRef = docPath.getElementById("row0");

but firstRef.class doesn't work, but firstRef.attributes[3].nodeValue returns "rowColourDark" and firstRef.attributes[3].nodeName returns "class"

firstRef.attributes[3].specified returns "true" so why can't I access the class value with . syntax like I can access ID etc., etc.

Using latest version of IE on windows xp.

I don't mind changing and reading class values with the attributes array as long as the element number is constant, is it always 3?

Incase it matters, the html was created with php which pulled data from an xml file and created a table. I don't think this should matter as I can capture tags by there ID and manipulate input fields with javascript so I should be able to access the class with . syntax I think.

in script u need to use className not class to capture this attribute - it was done like this because class is a reserved word in many languages