var $CE = function(tagName, attributes, styles){ //short for create element
      var el = document.createElement(tagName);
      if (attributes)
            $H(attributes).each(function(pair){
                  eval("el." + pair.key + "='" + pair.value + "'");
            });
      if (styles)
            $H(styles).each(function(pair)
            {
                el.style[pair.key] = pair.value;
            });

      return $(el);
};

Element.addMethods({
	clearChildren: function(element) {
		element = $(element);
		$A(element.childNodes).each(function(e){
			  e.parentNode.removeChild(e);
		});
		return element;
	},

	append: function(element, tagName, attributes, styles) {
		element = $(element);
		var newEl = $CE(tagName, attributes, styles);
		element.appendChild(newEl);
		return newEl;//<-- this one returns the new element
	},

	appendText: function(element, text){
		element = $(element);
		var t = document.createTextNode(text);
		element.appendChild(t);
		return element;
	  },

	getPageSize:function ()
	{
	var xScroll, yScroll;

	if (window.innerHeight && window.scrollMaxY) {
		xScroll = window.innerWidth + window.scrollMaxX;
		yScroll = window.innerHeight + window.scrollMaxY;
	} else if (document.body.scrollHeight > document.body.offsetHeight){ // all but Explorer Mac
		xScroll = document.body.scrollWidth;
		yScroll = document.body.scrollHeight;
	} else { // Explorer Mac...would also work in Explorer 6 Strict, Mozilla and Safari
		xScroll = document.body.offsetWidth;
		yScroll = document.body.offsetHeight;
	}

	var windowWidth, windowHeight;

	if (self.innerHeight) {	// all except Explorer
		if(document.documentElement.clientWidth){
			windowWidth = document.documentElement.clientWidth;
		} else {
			windowWidth = self.innerWidth;
		}
		windowHeight = self.innerHeight;
	} else if (document.documentElement && document.documentElement.clientHeight) { // Explorer 6 Strict Mode
		windowWidth = document.documentElement.clientWidth;
		windowHeight = document.documentElement.clientHeight;
	} else if (document.body) { // other Explorers
		windowWidth = document.body.clientWidth;
		windowHeight = document.body.clientHeight;
	}

	// for small pages with total height less then height of the viewport
	if(yScroll < windowHeight){
		pageHeight = windowHeight;
	} else {
		pageHeight = yScroll;
	}

	//console.log("xScroll " + xScroll)
	//console.log("windowWidth " + windowWidth)

	// for small pages with total width less then width of the viewport
	if(xScroll < windowWidth){
		pageWidth = xScroll;
	} else {
		pageWidth = windowWidth;
	}
	//console.log("pageWidth " + pageWidth)

	arrayPageSize = new Array(pageWidth,pageHeight,windowWidth,windowHeight)
	return arrayPageSize;
}
});