function $(id) {
    return document.getElementById(id);
}

String.prototype.startsWith = function(prefix){
    return this.indexOf(prefix) === 0;
}
String.prototype.endsWith = function(suffix) {
    return this.length >= suffix.length && this.indexOf(suffix, this.length - suffix.length) !== -1;
}

function getElementsByClassName(className,tag,parent) {
    parent = parent || document;
    var allTags = (tag=='*' && parent.all) ? parent.all : parent.getElementsByTagName(tag);
    var matchingElements = new Array();
    className = className.replace(/\-/g,'\\-');
    var regex = new RegExp('(^|\\s)'+className+'(\\s|$)');
    var element;
    for(var i=0; i<allTags.length; i++) {
        element = allTags[i];
        if(regex.test(element.className)) {
            matchingElements.push(element);
        }
    }
    return matchingElements;
}

/** Get the X position of an element. */
function findPositionX(obj) {
    var left = 0;
    if(obj.offsetParent) {
        while(1) {
          left += obj.offsetLeft;
          if(!obj.offsetParent)
            break;
          obj = obj.offsetParent;
        }
    } else if(obj.x) {
        left += obj.x;
    }
    return left;
}

/** Get the Y position of an element. */
function findPositionY(obj) {
    var top = 0;
    if(obj.offsetParent) {
        while(1) {
          top += obj.offsetTop;
          if(!obj.offsetParent)
            break;
          obj = obj.offsetParent;
        }
    } else if(obj.y) {
        top += obj.y;
    }
    return top;
}

function MM_findObj(n, d) { //v4.01
var p,i,x; if(!d) d=document; if((p=n.indexOf("?"))>0&&parent.frames.length) {
d=parent.frames[n.substring(p+1)].document; n=n.substring(0,p);}
if(!(x=d[n])&&d.all) x=d.all[n]; for (i=0;!x&&i<d.forms.length;i++) x=d.forms[i][n];
for(i=0;!x&&d.layers&&i<d.layers.length;i++) x=MM_findObj(n,d.layers[i].document);
if(!x && d.getElementById) x=d.getElementById(n); return x;
}

function MM_swapImage() { //v3.0
var i,j=0,x,a=MM_swapImage.arguments; document.MM_sr=new Array; for(i=0;i<(a.length-2);i+=3)
if ((x=MM_findObj(a[i]))!=null){document.MM_sr[j++]=x; if(!x.oSrc) x.oSrc=x.src; x.src=a[i+2];}
}
function MM_swapImgRestore() { //v3.0
var i,x,a=document.MM_sr; for(i=0;a&&i<a.length&&(x=a[i])&&x.oSrc;i++) x.src=x.oSrc;
}

function MM_preloadImages() { //v3.0
var d=document; if(d.images){ if(!d.MM_p) d.MM_p=new Array();
var i,j=d.MM_p.length,a=MM_preloadImages.arguments; for(i=0; i<a.length; i++)
if (a[i].indexOf("#")!=0){ d.MM_p[j]=new Image; d.MM_p[j++].src=a[i];}}
}

// Browser detections
var Browser = {
    IE:     navigator.userAgent.indexOf('MSIE') > -1,
    Opera:  navigator.userAgent.indexOf('Opera') > -1,
    WebKit: navigator.userAgent.indexOf('AppleWebKit/') > -1,
    Gecko:  navigator.userAgent.indexOf('Gecko') > -1 && navigator.userAgent.indexOf('KHTML') == -1,
    MobileSafari: !!navigator.userAgent.match(/Apple.*Mobile.*Safari/),
    Safari:navigator.userAgent.indexOf('Safari') > -1,
    Chrome: navigator.userAgent.indexOf('Chrome') > -1,
    Firefox:navigator.userAgent.indexOf('Firefox') > -1
};

// reliable way to get timezone offset from GMT by comparing
// a GMT and local date.  returns the offset in minutes.
function getTimeZoneOffset() {
  var rightNow = new Date();
  var jan1 = new Date(rightNow.getFullYear(), 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0);
  var temp = jan1.toGMTString();
  var jan2 = new Date(temp.substring(0, temp.lastIndexOf(" ")-1));
  var std_time_offset = (jan1 - jan2) / (1000 * 60);
  return std_time_offset;
}

// determines if the user's timezone observes daylight savings
// by comparing a date in the winter to a date in the summer.
// if the GMT offsets are different then the location observes DST.
function isDaylightSavingsObserved() {
  var rightNow = new Date();
  var june1 = new Date(rightNow.getFullYear(), 6, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0);
  temp = june1.toGMTString();
  var june2 = new Date(temp.substring(0, temp.lastIndexOf(" ")-1));
  var daylight_time_offset = (june1 - june2) / (1000 * 60); // in minutes to match function above
  var dst;
  if (getTimeZoneOffset() == daylight_time_offset) {
    dst = "0"; // daylight savings time is NOT observed
  } else {
    dst = "1"; // daylight savings time is observed
  }
  return dst == "1";
}