As the getElementByTagName, getElementByTagNameNS, getElementsByTagName, and getElementsByTagNameNS methods scan sequentially to locate requested elements, they always returned requested elements in document sequence. To improve performance, you can use the findElementByNameNS, findElementByTagName, findElementsByNameNS, and findElementsByTagName methods to retrieve elements more directly through a collection, using the collection sequence. JADE fully supports the use of a mixture of the document and collection sequence methods to locate the requested elements. The find methods may locate the elements in a different sequence from the get methods.

The collection sequence methods provide a performance boost only if a localName or tagName parameter value is explicitly specified in the calling parameters. If you specify "*" in the localName or tagName parameter, the access method reverts to the functionality and performance of the document sequence methods to locate the requested elements.