diff --git a/demo2.html b/demo2.html
index fb8d073..2ddb9e9 100644
--- a/demo2.html
+++ b/demo2.html
@@ -1,4 +1,3 @@
-﻿<!DOCTYPE html>
 <html>
 <body>
 <script src="http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.3.2/jquery.min.js"></script>
@@ -6,30 +5,20 @@
 <script src="springyui.js"></script>
 <script>
 var graph = new Graph();
-graph.addNodes(['Dennis', 'Michael', 'Jessica', 'Timothy', 'Barbara', 'Franklin'])
-graph.addNodes(['Monty', 'James', 'Bianca']);
+graph.addNodes('Dennis', 'Michael', 'Jessica', 'Timothy', 'Barbara', 'Franklin')
+graph.addNodes('Monty', 'James');
 
-var dennis = graph.newNode({label: 'Dennis'});
-var michael = graph.newNode({label: 'Michael'});
-var jessica = graph.newNode({label: 'Jessica'});
-var timothy = graph.newNode({label: 'Timothy'});
-var barbara = graph.newNode({label: 'Barbara'});
-var franklin = graph.newNode({label: 'Franklin'});
-var monty = graph.newNode({label: 'Monty'});
-var james = graph.newNode({label: 'James'});
-var bianca = graph.newNode({label: 'Bianca'});
-
-graph.newEdge(dennis, michael, {color: '#00A0B0', label: 'Foo bar'});
-graph.newEdge(michael, dennis, {color: '#6A4A3C'});
-graph.newEdge(michael, jessica, {color: '#CC333F'});
-graph.newEdge(jessica, barbara, {color: '#EB6841'});
-graph.newEdge(michael, timothy, {color: '#EDC951'});
-graph.newEdge(franklin, monty, {color: '#7DBE3C'});
-graph.newEdge(dennis, monty, {color: '#000000'});
-graph.newEdge(monty, james, {color: '#00A0B0'});
-graph.newEdge(barbara, timothy, {color: '#6A4A3C'});
-graph.newEdge(dennis, bianca, {color: '#CC333F'});
-graph.newEdge(bianca, monty, {color: '#EB6841'});
+graph.addEdges(
+    ['Dennis', 'Michael', {color: '#00A0B0', label: 'Foo bar'}],
+    ['Michael', 'Dennis', {color: '#6A4A3C'}],
+    ['Michael', 'Jessica', {color: '#CC333F'}],
+    ['Jessica', 'Barbara', {color: '#EB6841'}],
+    ['Michael', 'Timothy', {color: '#EDC951'}],
+    ['Franklin', 'Monty', {color: '#7DBE3C'}],
+    ['Dennis', 'Monty', {color: '#000000'}],
+    ['Monty', 'James'],
+    ['Barbara', 'Timothy', {color: '#6A4A3C'}]
+);
 
 jQuery(function(){
 	var springy = jQuery('#springydemo').springy({
diff --git a/springy.js b/springy.js
index 7960300..3dc3559 100644
--- a/springy.js
+++ b/springy.js
@@ -69,12 +69,13 @@ Graph.prototype.addNode = function(node) {
 	return node;
 };
 
-Graph.prototype.addNodes = function(list) {
-        if (typeof(list[0]) == "string") {
-		list.forEach(function(name) {
-                    var node = new Node(name, data = {label:name});
-                    this.addNode(node);
-                }, this);
+Graph.prototype.addNodes = function() {
+        // accepts variable number of arguments, where each argument
+        // is a string that becomes both node identifier and label
+        for (var i = 0; i < arguments.length; i++) {
+                var name = arguments[i];
+                var node = new Node(name, data = {label:name});
+                this.addNode(node);
         }
 };
 
@@ -108,6 +109,25 @@ Graph.prototype.addEdge = function(edge) {
 	return edge;
 };
 
+Graph.prototype.addEdges = function() {
+        // accepts variable number of arguments, where each argument
+        // is a triple [nodeid1, nodeid2, attributes]
+        for (var i = 0; i < arguments.length; i++) {
+                var e = arguments[i];
+                var node1 = this.nodeSet[e[0]];
+                if (node1 == undefined) {
+                        throw new TypeError("invalid node name: " + e[0]);
+                }
+                var node2 = this.nodeSet[e[1]];
+                if (node2 == undefined) {
+                        throw new TypeError("invalid node name: " + e[1]);
+                }
+                var attr = e[2];
+
+                this.newEdge(node1, node2, attr);
+        }
+};
+
 Graph.prototype.newNode = function(data) {
 	var node = new Node(this.nextNodeId++, data);
 	this.addNode(node);
