Javascript DOM tree duplicate for manipulation

Question

Since the DOM tree of a page is active and always reflected in the browser, what is the best way to modify this DOM tree for some purpose without affecting the actual render

Answer 1

If you are willing to use jQuery:

var clone = $("selectorForSomeElement(s)").clone();

clone now is a copy of the element structure.

You can then work off of clone to do whatever experimenting you like.