diff --git a/test/test-web.lisp b/test/test-web.lisp
index 3e75f8c..5079da1 100644
--- a/test/test-web.lisp
+++ b/test/test-web.lisp
@@ -43,14 +43,13 @@
 ;;;; the tests
 
 (deftest test-dom-parse ()
-  (let (inp parsed rendered)
+  (let (inp parsed)
     (setf inp "<a href=\"https://example.com\">Link</a>")
-    (setf parsed '(((:a :href "https://example.com") "Link")))
-    (== (dom:parse inp) parsed)
-    ;(setf wanted (dom:a '(:href "https://example.com") "Link"))
+    (setf parsed (dom:parse inp))
+    (== parsed '(((:a :href "https://example.com") "Link")))
+    ;(== (dom:from-list parsed) ((dom:a '(:href "https://example.com") "Link")))
     (== (dom:render (dom:from-list parsed)) inp)
-    )
-         )
+    ))
 
 (deftest test-dom ()
   (== (dom:render 
diff --git a/web/dom.lisp b/web/dom.lisp
index b579494..c8f5c08 100644
--- a/web/dom.lisp
+++ b/web/dom.lisp
@@ -145,22 +145,25 @@
 (defun newline ()
   (put-char #\Newline))
 
-;;;; create elements from list of symbols
+;;;; conversions (for testing or manipulation of HTML using dom)
 
-(defun from-list (lst)
-  (mapcar #'(lambda (part) 
-    (etypecase part
-      (string part)
-      (symbol (funcall (find-symbol (string part) *this*)))
-      (list 
-        (etypecase (car part)
-          (symbol (apply (find-symbol (string (car part)) *this*) 
-                         nil (from-list (cdr part))))
-          (list (apply (find-symbol (string (caar part)) *this*) 
-                       (cdar part) (from-list (cdr part))))
-    )))) lst))
-
-;;;; parsing (for testing or manipulation of HTML using dom)
+(defun to-list (&rest elems))
 
 (defun parse (html)
   (hp:parse-html html))
+
+(defun from-list (lst)
+  "Create elements from a list of symbols as produced by parse-html."
+  (mapcar #'from-list-part lst))
+
+(defun from-list-part (part) 
+  (flet ((sym (k) (find-symbol (string k) *this*)))
+    (etypecase part
+      (string part)
+      (symbol (funcall (sym part)))
+      (list 
+        (let ((tag (car part)) attr)
+          (when (consp tag) 
+            (setf attr (cdr tag) tag (car tag)))
+          (apply (sym tag) attr (from-list (cdr part))))))))
+