Hi,
no idea where you've learned that coding

but I'll bet, if you use a correct html syntax it will even work in IE without the need of setting a value ...
<select name="top5" size="3">
<option>Heino</option>
<option>Michael Jackson</option>
<option>Tom Waits</option>
<option>Nina Hagen</option>
<option>Marianne Rosenberg</option>
</select>
Regards Bernd