diff --git a/www/assert/main.js b/www/assert/main.js
index 0913674ae..0b759c99b 100644
--- a/www/assert/main.js
+++ b/www/assert/main.js
@@ -7,7 +7,8 @@ define([
     '/drive/tests.js',
     '/common/test.js',
     '/common/common-thumbnail.js',
-], function ($, Hyperjson, TextPatcher, Sortify, Cryptpad, Drive, Test, Thumb) {
+    '/common/flat-dom.js',
+], function ($, Hyperjson, TextPatcher, Sortify, Cryptpad, Drive, Test, Thumb, Flat) {
     window.Hyperjson = Hyperjson;
     window.TextPatcher = TextPatcher;
     window.Sortify = Sortify;
@@ -241,6 +242,7 @@ define([
         return cb(true);
     }, "version 2 hash failed to parse correctly");
 
+/*
     assert(function (cb) {
         var getBlob = function (url, cb) {
             var xhr = new XMLHttpRequest();
@@ -266,9 +268,21 @@ define([
             });
         });
     });
+*/
 
     Drive.test(assert);
 
+    assert(function (cb) {
+        // extract dom elements into a flattened JSON representation
+        var flat = Flat.fromDOM(document.body);
+        // recreate a _mostly_ equivalent DOM
+        var dom = Flat.toDOM(flat);
+        // assume we don't care about comments
+        var bodyText = document.body.outerHTML.replace(/<!\-\-[\s\S]*?\-\->/g, '');
+        // check for equality
+        cb(dom.outerHTML === bodyText);
+    });
+
     var swap = function (str, dict) {
         return str.replace(/\{\{(.*?)\}\}/g, function (all, key) {
             return typeof dict[key] !== 'undefined'? dict[key] : all;
diff --git a/www/common/flat-dom.js b/www/common/flat-dom.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..51c3d07b3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/www/common/flat-dom.js
@@ -0,0 +1,83 @@
+define([], function () {
+    var Flat = {};
+
+    var slice = function (coll) {
+        return Array.prototype.slice.call(coll);
+    };
+
+    var getAttrs = function (el) {
+        var i = 0;
+        var l = el.attributes.length;
+        var attr;
+        var data = {};
+        for (;i < l;i++) {
+            attr = el.attributes[i];
+            if (attr.name && attr.value) { data[attr.name] = attr.value; }
+        }
+        return data;
+    };
+
+    var identity = function (x) { return x; };
+    Flat.fromDOM = function (dom) {
+        var data = {
+            map: {},
+        };
+
+        var i = 1; // start from 1 so we're always truthey
+        var uid = function () { return i++; };
+
+        var process = function (el) {
+            var id;
+            if (!el.tagName && el.nodeType === Node.TEXT_NODE) {
+                id = uid();
+                data.map[id] = el.textContent;
+                return id;
+            }
+            if (!el || !el.attributes) { return void console.error(el); }
+            id = uid();
+            data.map[id] = [
+                el.tagName,
+                getAttrs(el),
+                slice(el.childNodes).map(function (e) {
+                    return process(e);
+                }).filter(identity)
+            ];
+            return id;
+        };
+
+        data.root = process(dom);
+        return data;
+    };
+
+    Flat.toDOM = function (data) {
+        var visited = {};
+        var process = function (key) {
+            if (!key) { return; } // ignore falsey keys
+            if (visited[key]) {
+                // TODO handle this more gracefully.
+                throw new Error('duplicate id or loop detected');
+            }
+            visited[key] = true; // mark paths as visited.
+
+            var hj = data.map[key];
+            if (typeof(hj) === 'string') { return document.createTextNode(hj); }
+            if (typeof(hj) === 'undefined') { return; }
+            if (!Array.isArray(hj)) { console.error(hj); throw new Error('expected array'); }
+
+            var e = document.createElement(hj[0]);
+            for (var x in hj[1]) { e.setAttribute(x, hj[1][x]); }
+            var child;
+            for (var i = 0; i < hj[2].length; i++) {
+                child = process(hj[2][i]);
+                if (child) {
+                    e.appendChild(child);
+                }
+            }
+            return e;
+        };
+
+        return process(data.root);
+    };
+
+    return Flat;
+});
diff --git a/www/common/sframe-boot2.js b/www/common/sframe-boot2.js
index dd0370ca8..9b0f055b3 100644
--- a/www/common/sframe-boot2.js
+++ b/www/common/sframe-boot2.js
@@ -13,7 +13,8 @@ define(['/common/requireconfig.js'], function (RequireConfig) {
     var mkFakeStore = function () {
         var fakeStorage = {
             getItem: function (k) { return fakeStorage[k]; },
-            setItem: function (k, v) { fakeStorage[k] = v; return v; }
+            setItem: function (k, v) { fakeStorage[k] = v; return v; },
+            removeItem: function (k) { delete fakeStorage[k]; }
         };
         return fakeStorage;
     };