jQuery.el()

// fun syntax for making elements on the page. 
// from Aardvark Tools
jQuery.el= function(elem,properties) {
  var i, s, p, c;
  if (typeof(elem)=="string")
    elem = document.createElement(elem);

  if (properties) {
    s = properties.style;
    if (s)
      for (i in s)
        elem.style[i] = s[i];
    for (i in properties) {
      p = properties[i];
      if (p != s)
        elem[i] = p;
      }
    }
  for (i=2; i<arguments.length; i++) {
    c = arguments[i];
    if (typeof(c) == "string")
      c = document.createTextNode(c);
    elem.appendChild(c);
    }
  return jQuery(elem);
}