Get elements just 1 level below the current element by javascript

Answer 1

You could use a function that rules out all non-element nodes:

function getChildNodes(node) {
    var children = new Array();
    for(var child in node.childNodes) {
        if(node.childNodes[child].nodeType == 1) {
            children.push(child);
        }
    }
    return children;
}