diff --git a/djx/src/main/ts/tsx/traits.ts b/djx/src/main/ts/tsx/traits.ts
--- a/djx/src/main/ts/tsx/traits.ts
+++ b/djx/src/main/ts/tsx/traits.ts
@@ -158,4 +158,49 @@ export function locateNode(node: Node): 
     return next ?
         [next, "before"] : 
         [node.parentNode, "last"];
+}
+
+export const placeAt = (node: Node, refNodeOrId: string | Node, position: DojoNodePosition) => {
+    const collect = (collection: HTMLCollection) => {
+        const items = [];
+        for (let i = 0, n = collection.length; i < n; i++) {
+            items.push(collection[i]);
+        }
+        return items;
+    };
+
+    const startup = (node: Node) => {
+        if (node.parentNode) {
+            const parentWidget = registry.getEnclosingWidget(node.parentNode);
+            if (parentWidget && parentWidget._started)
+                return startupWidgets(node);
+        }
+        if (isInPage(node))
+            startupWidgets(node);
+    };
+
+    const ref = typeof refNodeOrId == "string" ? document.getElementById(refNodeOrId) : refNodeOrId;
+    if (!ref)
+        return;
+
+    const parent = ref.parentNode;
+
+    if (typeof position == "number") {
+
+    } else {
+        switch(position) {
+            case "before":
+                if (parent)
+                    parent.insertBefore(node,ref);
+            case "after":
+                if (parent)
+                    parent.insertBefore(node, ref.nextSibling);
+        }
+    }
+
+    const startupPending = isDocumentFragmentNode(node) ? collect(node.children) : [node];
+
+    dom.place(node, refNodeOrId, position);
+
+    startupPending.forEach(startup);
 }
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