diff --git a/src/ui/web/Template.js b/src/ui/web/Template.js
index de47a6f0..820c5775 100644
--- a/src/ui/web/Template.js
+++ b/src/ui/web/Template.js
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import { setAttribute, text, TAG_NAMES } from "./html.js";
+import { setAttribute, text, isChildren, TAG_NAMES } from "./html.js";
 
 
 function classNames(obj, value) {
@@ -130,14 +130,9 @@ export default class Template {
     }
 
     el(name, attributes, children) {
-        if (attributes) {
-            // valid attributes is only object that is not a DOM node
-            // anything else (string, fn, array, dom node) is presumed
-            // to be children with no attributes passed
-            if (typeof attributes !== "object" || !!attributes.nodeType || Array.isArray(attributes)) {
-                children = attributes;
-                attributes = null;
-            }
+        if (attributes && isChildren(attributes)) {
+            children = attributes;
+            attributes = null;
         }
 
         const node = document.createElement(name);
diff --git a/src/ui/web/html.js b/src/ui/web/html.js
index 604090f2..0816a689 100644
--- a/src/ui/web/html.js
+++ b/src/ui/web/html.js
@@ -1,5 +1,9 @@
 // DOM helper functions
 
+export function isChildren(children) {
+    return typeof children !== "object" || !!children.nodeType || Array.isArray(children);
+}
+
 export function setAttribute(el, name, value) {
     if (name === "className") {
         name = "class";
@@ -14,13 +18,20 @@ export function setAttribute(el, name, value) {
     }
 }
 
-export function el(elementName, attrs, children) {
+export function el(elementName, attributes, children) {
+    if (attributes && isChildren(attributes)) {
+        children = attributes;
+        attributes = null;
+    }
+
     const e = document.createElement(elementName);
-    if (typeof attrs === "object" && attrs !== null) {
-        for (let [name, value] of Object.entries(attrs)) {
+
+    if (attributes) {
+        for (let [name, value] of Object.entries(attributes)) {
             setAttribute(e, name, value);
         }
     }
+
     if (children) {
         if (!Array.isArray(children)) {
             children = [children];