the error is here:
> <xsl:value-of select="key('color',this_color)"/>

<xsl:value-of select="key('color',$this_color)"/>

So you select such a color-element:

<color id = "11">
    <name>red</name>
</color>

>From here you can navigate for a "more correct" XPATH:

<xsl:value-of select="key('color',$this_color)/name"/>

So you won't have no whitespace problems.

Joerg


 XSL-List info and archive:  http://www.mulberrytech.com/xsl/xsl-list