diff --git a/lib/DOM.js b/lib/DOM.js
index 0f3e2447..2749fa44 100644
--- a/lib/DOM.js
+++ b/lib/DOM.js
@@ -222,31 +222,48 @@ angular.module('textAngular.DOM', ['textAngular.factories'])
 			}catch(e){}
 		};
 	};
-}]).service('taSelection', ['$window', '$document',
+}]).service('taSelection', ['$window', '$document', 'taDOM',
 /* istanbul ignore next: all browser specifics and PhantomJS dosen't seem to support half of it */
-function($window, $document){
+function($window, $document, taDOM){
 	// need to dereference the document else the calls don't work correctly
 	var _document = $document[0];
 	var rangy = $window.rangy;
+	var brException = function (element, offset) {
+		/* check if selection is a BR element at the beginning of a container. If so, get
+		* the parentNode instead.
+		* offset should be zero in this case. Otherwise, return the original
+		* element.
+		*/
+		if (element.tagName && element.tagName.match(/^br$/i) && offset === 0 && !element.previousSibling) {
+            return {
+                element: element.parentNode,
+                offset: 0
+            };
+		} else {
+			return {
+				element: element,
+				offset: offset
+			};
+		}
+	};
 	var api = {
 		getSelection: function(){
 			var range = rangy.getSelection().getRangeAt(0);
 			var container = range.commonAncestorContainer;
-			// Check if the container is a text node and return its parent if so
-			container = container.nodeType === 3 ? container.parentNode : container;
-			return {
-				start: {
-					element: range.startContainer,
-					offset: range.startOffset
-				},
-				end: {
-					element: range.endContainer,
-					offset: range.endOffset
-				},
-				container: container,
+			var selection = {
+				start: brException(range.startContainer, range.startOffset),
+				end: brException(range.endContainer, range.endOffset),
 				collapsed: range.collapsed
-				
 			};
+			// Check if the container is a text node and return its parent if so
+			container = container.nodeType === 3 ? container.parentNode : container;
+			if (container.parentNode === selection.start.element ||
+				container.parentNode === selection.end.element) {
+				selection.container = container.parentNode;
+			} else {
+				selection.container = container;
+			}
+			return selection;
 		},
 		getOnlySelectedElements: function(){
 			var range = rangy.getSelection().getRangeAt(0);
@@ -304,12 +321,13 @@ function($window, $document){
 		// from http://stackoverflow.com/questions/6690752/insert-html-at-caret-in-a-contenteditable-div
 		// topNode is the contenteditable normally, all manipulation MUST be inside this.
 		insertHtml: function(html, topNode){
-			var parent, secondParent, _childI, nodes, startIndex, startNodes, endNodes, i, lastNode;
+			var parent, secondParent, _childI, nodes, startIndex, startNodes, endNodes, i, lastNode, _tempFrag;
 			var element = angular.element("<div>" + html + "</div>");
 			var range = rangy.getSelection().getRangeAt(0);
 			var frag = _document.createDocumentFragment();
 			var children = element[0].childNodes;
 			var isInline = true;
+			
 			if(children.length > 0){
 				// NOTE!! We need to do the following:
 				// check for blockelements - if they exist then we have to split the current element in half (and all others up to the closest block element) and insert all children in-between.
@@ -336,41 +354,68 @@ function($window, $document){
 			if(isInline){
 				range.deleteContents();
 			}else{ // not inline insert
-				if(range.collapsed && range.startContainer !== topNode && range.startContainer.parentNode !== topNode){
-					// split element into 2 and insert block element in middle
-					if(range.startContainer.nodeType === 3){ // if text node
-						parent = range.startContainer.parentNode;
-						nodes = parent.childNodes;
-						// split the nodes into two lists - before and after, splitting the node with the selection into 2 text nodes.
-						startNodes = [];
-						endNodes = [];
-						for(startIndex = 0; startIndex < nodes.length; startIndex++){
-							startNodes.push(nodes[startIndex]);
-							if(nodes[startIndex] === range.startContainer) break;
+				if(range.collapsed && range.startContainer !== topNode){
+					if(range.startContainer.innerHTML && range.startContainer.innerHTML.match(/^<[^>]*>$/i)){
+						// this log is to catch when innerHTML is something like `<img ...>`
+						parent = range.startContainer;
+						if(range.startOffset === 1){
+							// before single tag
+							range.setStartAfter(parent);
+							range.setEndAfter(parent);
+						}else{
+							// after single tag
+							range.setStartBefore(parent);
+							range.setEndBefore(parent);
 						}
-						endNodes.push(_document.createTextNode(range.startContainer.nodeValue.substring(range.startOffset)));
-						range.startContainer.nodeValue = range.startContainer.nodeValue.substring(0, range.startOffset);
-						for(i = startIndex + 1; i < nodes.length; i++) endNodes.push(nodes[i]);
-						
-						secondParent = parent.cloneNode();
-						parent.childNodes = startNodes;
-						secondParent.childNodes = endNodes;
 					}else{
-						parent = range.startContainer;
-						secondParent = parent.cloneNode();
-						secondParent.innerHTML = parent.innerHTML.substring(range.startOffset);
-						parent.innerHTML = parent.innerHTML.substring(0, range.startOffset);
-					}
-					angular.element(parent).after(secondParent);
-					// put cursor to end of inserted content
-					range.setStartAfter(parent);
-					range.setEndAfter(parent);
-					if(/^(|<br(|\/)>)$/i.test(parent.innerHTML.trim())){
-						range.setStartBefore(parent);
-						range.setEndBefore(parent);
-						angular.element(parent).remove();
+						// split element into 2 and insert block element in middle
+						if(range.startContainer.nodeType === 3 && range.startContainer.parentNode !== topNode){ // if text node
+							parent = range.startContainer.parentNode;
+							secondParent = parent.cloneNode();
+							// split the nodes into two lists - before and after, splitting the node with the selection into 2 text nodes.
+							taDOM.splitNodes(parent.childNodes, parent, secondParent, range.startContainer, range.startOffset);
+							
+							// Escape out of the inline tags like b
+							while(!VALIDELEMENTS.test(parent.nodeName)){
+								angular.element(parent).after(secondParent);
+								parent = parent.parentNode;
+								var _lastSecondParent = secondParent;
+								secondParent = parent.cloneNode();
+								// split the nodes into two lists - before and after, splitting the node with the selection into 2 text nodes.
+								taDOM.splitNodes(parent.childNodes, parent, secondParent, _lastSecondParent);
+							}
+						}else{
+							parent = range.startContainer;
+							secondParent = parent.cloneNode();
+							taDOM.splitNodes(parent.childNodes, parent, secondParent, undefined, undefined, range.startOffset);
+						}
+						
+						angular.element(parent).after(secondParent);
+						// put cursor to end of inserted content
+						range.setStartAfter(parent);
+						range.setEndAfter(parent);
+						
+						if(/^(|<br(|\/)>)$/i.test(parent.innerHTML.trim())){
+							range.setStartBefore(parent);
+							range.setEndBefore(parent);
+							angular.element(parent).remove();
+						}
+						if(/^(|<br(|\/)>)$/i.test(secondParent.innerHTML.trim())) angular.element(secondParent).remove();
+						if(parent.nodeName.toLowerCase() === 'li'){
+							_tempFrag = _document.createDocumentFragment();
+							for(i = 0; i < frag.childNodes.length; i++){
+								element = angular.element('<li>');
+								taDOM.transferChildNodes(frag.childNodes[i], element[0]);
+								taDOM.transferNodeAttributes(frag.childNodes[i], element[0]);
+								_tempFrag.appendChild(element[0]);
+							}
+							frag = _tempFrag;
+							if(lastNode){
+								lastNode = frag.childNodes[frag.childNodes.length - 1];
+								lastNode = lastNode.childNodes[lastNode.childNodes.length - 1];
+							}
+						}
 					}
-					if(/^(|<br(|\/)>)$/i.test(secondParent.innerHTML.trim())) angular.element(secondParent).remove();
 				}else{
 					range.deleteContents();
 				}
@@ -382,4 +427,53 @@ function($window, $document){
 		}
 	};
 	return api;
-}]);
\ No newline at end of file
+}]).service('taDOM', function(){
+	var taDOM = {
+		// recursive function that returns an array of angular.elements that have the passed attribute set on them
+		getByAttribute: function(element, attribute){
+			var resultingElements = [];
+			var childNodes = element.children();
+			if(childNodes.length){
+				angular.forEach(childNodes, function(child){
+					resultingElements = resultingElements.concat(taDOM.getByAttribute(angular.element(child), attribute));
+				});
+			}
+			if(element.attr(attribute) !== undefined) resultingElements.push(element);
+			return resultingElements;
+		},
+		
+		transferChildNodes: function(source, target){
+			// clear out target
+			target.innerHTML = '';
+			while(source.childNodes.length > 0) target.appendChild(source.childNodes[0]);
+			return target;
+		},
+		
+		splitNodes: function(nodes, target1, target2, splitNode, subSplitIndex, splitIndex){
+			if(!splitNode && isNaN(splitIndex)) throw new Error('taDOM.splitNodes requires a splitNode or splitIndex');
+			var startNodes = document.createDocumentFragment();
+			var endNodes = document.createDocumentFragment();
+			var index = 0;
+			
+			while(nodes.length > 0 && (isNaN(splitIndex) || splitIndex !== index) && nodes[0] !== splitNode){
+				startNodes.appendChild(nodes[0]); // this removes from the nodes array (if proper childNodes object.
+				index++;
+			}
+			
+			if(!isNaN(subSplitIndex) && subSplitIndex >= 0 && nodes[0]){
+				startNodes.appendChild(document.createTextNode(nodes[0].nodeValue.substring(0, subSplitIndex)));
+				nodes[0].nodeValue = nodes[0].nodeValue.substring(subSplitIndex);
+			}
+			while(nodes.length > 0) endNodes.appendChild(nodes[0]);
+			
+			taDOM.transferChildNodes(startNodes, target1);
+			taDOM.transferChildNodes(endNodes, target2);
+		},
+		
+		transferNodeAttributes: function(source, target){
+			for(var i = 0; i < source.attributes.length; i++) target.setAttribute(source.attributes[i].name, source.attributes[i].value);
+			return target;
+		}
+	};
+	return taDOM;
+});
\ No newline at end of file