any php / java / css guru out there??

i have the YD WPMU Bloglist Widget plugin installed and working on my setup, however i am not a programmer, spent way too many hours trying to figure it out, the thread at the plugin is non-existent, so i was wondering if someone who had a few minutes can help to get to my final destination.

here’s what i have to so far…

1. i’m able to get the bloglist menu to show on my site
2. i was able to add some css to the stylesheet to change the color

what i’m not able to figure out is the following..

1. i can’t get a scroll on the drop down list – it’s going to be a long list, i would like to limit it to showing, maybe, 10 items then user needs to scroll and select one
2. i can’t figure out how to force the menu to ‘center’ on the page
3. eliminate ie from destroying the menu (tested on ie 8 and under)

below is the flow to where i am at right now.

code from the plugin that creates the drop down menu

/** Display drop-down menu **/
function yd_wpmu_bloglist_dropdown( $echo = TRUE, $params = NULL ) {
    $html = '';
    if( $echo && $echo !== TRUE && $params === NULL ) {
        // shift parameters
        $params = $echo;
        $echo = TRUE;
    }

    $dd = preg_replace( '/<a href=/', '<option value=', yd_list_all_wpmu_blogs( $params ) );
    //$dd = preg_replace( '/title="[^"]*"/', '', $dd );
    $dd = preg_replace( '|</a>|', '</option>', $dd );
    $html .= $dd;
    if( isset( $echo ) && $echo !== FALSE ) {
        echo $html;
    } else {
        return $html;
    }
}

/** Javascript for drop-down **/
function yd_wpmubl_dropdown_js() {
    ?>
    <script>function ddjump(o){document.location=o.options[o.selectedIndex].value;}</script>
    <?php
}

/** Display inside content **/
function yd_wpmubl_generate( $content ) {
    if (strpos($content, "[!YDWPMUBL]") !== FALSE) {
        $content = preg_replace('/<p>\s*\[!(.*)\]\s*<\/p>/i', "[!$1]", $content);
        $content = str_replace('[!YDWPMUBL]', yd_display_wpmu_bloglist( FALSE ), $content);
    }
    return $content;
}
add_filter('the_content', 'yd_wpmubl_generate');

here is the code to place the drop down in the template

<?php yd_wpmubl_dropdown_js(); ?>
<select name="select" id="select" class="dropdown" onChange="ddjump(this);">
    <option selected="selected"><?php _e('Network Shortcuts - Select a Site:'); ?></option>
    <?php yd_wpmu_bloglist_dropdown( 'show_count=0' ); ?>
</select>

and this is basic info i added to the style.css, less the various things i added to get the scroll, autoscroll, etc, etc

.dropdown  {
background:#7FFF00;
border:1px solid #48758d;
border-width:0 1px 1px 1px;
padding:0;
list-style:none;
}

so, again, the issues i’m having r the following:
1. i need the drop down to scroll since the blog list may get long
2. the menu needs to be ‘center’ on the page
3. i just tested last night in various browsers, ie 8 and under (haven’t tested 9 yet) its destroying the java used and showing the menu completely outside of the drop down as text only w/ no hyperlinks (it looks bad!)

i looked, read, and read some more, but since it looks like the author used a php to html setup to show the drop down (not sure, that’s what i think it is) i couldn’t find any reasonable comparisons to understand the logic and alter it so it would work for me.

lastly, if u took the time to read this, respond, i’ll already thank you since i want to learn as much as i can, it’s just this one is really putting me back a few steps and it’s frustrating to say the least.

thanks