javascript functions to show and hide divs

You need the link inside to be clickable, meaning it needs a href with some content, and also, close() is a built-in function of window, so you need to change the name of the function to avoid a conflict.

<div id="upbutton"><a href="#" onclick="close2()">click to close</a></div>

Also if you want a real "button" instead of a link, you should use <input type="button"/> or <button/>.

<script> 
    function show() { 
        if(document.getElementById('benefits').style.display=='none') { 
            document.getElementById('benefits').style.display='block'; 
        } 
        return false;
    } 
    function hide() { 
        if(document.getElementById('benefits').style.display=='block') { 
            document.getElementById('benefits').style.display='none'; 
        } 
        return false;
    }   
</script> 


 <div id="opener"><a href="#1" name="1" onclick="return show();">click here</a></div> 
    <div id="benefits" style="display:none;">some input in here plus the close button 
           <div id="upbutton"><a onclick="return hide();">click here</a></div> 
    </div> 

I usually do this with classes, that seems to force the browsers to reassess all the styling.

.hiddendiv {display:none;}
.visiblediv {display:block;}

then use;

<script>  
function show() {  
    document.getElementById('benefits').className='visiblediv';  
}  
function close() {  
    document.getElementById('benefits').className='hiddendiv';  
}    
</script>

Note the casing of "className" that trips me up a lot

The beauty of jQuery would allow us to do the following:

$(function()
{
    var benefits = $('#benefits');

    // this is the show function
    $('a[name=1]').click(function()
    { 
        benefits.show();
    });

    // this is the hide function
    $('a', benefits).click(function()
    {
        benefits.hide();
    });
});

Alternatively you could have 1 button toggle the display, like this:

$(function()
{
    // this is the show and hide function, all in 1!
    $('a[name=1]').click(function()
    { 
        $('#benefits').toggle();
    });
});