// changes colour of specified 'element' to 'colour'
function changeColour(element, colour) {
	element.style.color = colour;
}

// changes background of specified 'target' to 'colour'
function changeBG(element, colour) {
	element.style.backgroundColor = colour;
}

// follows the 1st child link in given parent 
function followChildLink(parent) {
	child = parent.getElementsByTagName('a').item(0);
	document.location = child.getAttribute("href");
}