function elt(name, attributes) {
var node = document.createElement(name);
if (attributes) {
for (var attr in attributes)
if (attributes.hasOwnProperty(attr))
node.setAttribute(attr, attributes[attr]);
}
for (var i = 2; i < arguments.length; i++) {
var child = arguments[i];
if (typeof child == "string")
child = document.createTextNode(child);
node.appendChild(child);
}
return node;
}