messageDiv.setClassName("selected-article");
//create the avatar table
element = DOM.createTable();
TableElement avatarTable = TableElement.as(element);
messageDiv.appendChild(avatarTable);
avatarTable.setAttribute("hspace", "4");
avatarTable.setAttribute("cellspacing","0");
avatarTable.setAttribute("vspace", "2");
avatarTable.setAttribute("border", "0");
avatarTable.setAttribute("align", "left");