diff --git a/js/dom.js b/js/dom.js
index 0f897552..c56a2b4b 100644
--- a/js/dom.js
+++ b/js/dom.js
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ for (const type of [NodeList, NamedNodeMap, HTMLCollection, HTMLAllCollection])
 {
   // display a full text tooltip on buttons with ellipsis overflow and no inherent title
   const addTooltipsToEllipsized = () => {
-    for (const btn of $$('button')) {
+    for (const btn of document.getElementsByTagName('button')) {
       if (btn.title && !btn.titleIsForEllipsis ||
           btn.clientWidth === btn.preresizeClientWidth) {
         continue;
diff --git a/js/localization.js b/js/localization.js
index 27ec14ed..0065d22c 100644
--- a/js/localization.js
+++ b/js/localization.js
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ function tHTML(html, tag) {
     }
     const body = t.DOMParser.parseFromString(html, 'text/html').body;
     if (html.includes('i18n-')) {
-      tNodeList($$('*', body));
+      tNodeList(body.getElementsByTagName('*'));
     }
     // the html string may contain more than one top-level node
     if (!body.childNodes[1]) {
@@ -115,7 +115,7 @@ function tDocLoader() {
   const cacheLength = Object.keys(t.cache).length;
 
   // localize HEAD
-  tNodeList($$('*'));
+  tNodeList(document.getElementsByTagName('*'));
 
   // localize BODY
   const process = mutations => {
diff --git a/manage/filters.js b/manage/filters.js
index 007f2953..8d96b601 100644
--- a/manage/filters.js
+++ b/manage/filters.js
@@ -301,7 +301,7 @@ function showFiltersStats({immediately} = {}) {
   }
   $('#filters').classList.toggle('active', filtersSelector.hide !== '');
   const numTotal = BG.cachedStyles.list.length;
-  const numHidden = $$('.entry.hidden', installed).length;
+  const numHidden = installed.getElementsByClassName('entry hidden').length;
   const numShown = Math.min(numTotal - numHidden, installed.children.length);
   if (filtersSelector.numShown !== numShown ||
       filtersSelector.numTotal !== numTotal) {