function before( parent, before, elem ) {
      // Check to see if no parent node was provided
      if ( elem == null ) {
          elem = before;
          before = parent;
          parent  = before.parentNode;
      }
  
      // Get the new array of elements
      var elems = checkElem( elem );
  
      // Move through the array backwards,
      // because we’re prepending elements
      for ( var i = elems.length - 1; i >= 0; i-- ) {
          parent.insertBefore( elems[i], before );
      }
  }
  
  function append( parent, elem ) {
      // Get the array of elements
      var elems = checkElem( elem );
  
      // Append them all to the element
      for ( var i = 0; i <= elems.length; i++ ) {
          parent.appendChild( elems[i] );
      }
  }