diff --git a/public_html/classes/htmlelements.class.php b/public_html/classes/htmlelements.class.php
index fdead018794b9b9067e46a1a55f3edd44a1856e2..b890fda4dd77302de87fa59e603fb353ce763543 100755
--- a/public_html/classes/htmlelements.class.php
+++ b/public_html/classes/htmlelements.class.php
@@ -17,26 +17,19 @@
  * @author Axel
  * 
  * 2024-07-04  <axel.hahn@unibe.ch>  added type declarations; update php docs
+ * 2024-08-26  <axel.hahn@unibe.ch>  remove unneeded methods; simplify icon methods; update phpdocs
  */
 class htmlelements
 {
 
     /**
-     * set of auto generated icon prefixes
-     * @var array
-     */
-    var $_aIcons = [
-        // 'fa-'=>'fa ',
-    ];
-
-    /**
-     * label of an html tag (pseudo attribute)
+     * Extracted label from array with attributes
      * @var string
      */
     var $_sLabel = '';
 
     /**
-     * hash of attributes and values of an html tag
+     * Array of attributes for a html tag
      * @var array
      */
     var $_aAttributes = [];
@@ -48,7 +41,7 @@ class htmlelements
 
     public function __construct()
     {
-        return true;
+        // nothiung here
     }
 
     // ----------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -60,6 +53,7 @@ class htmlelements
 
     /**
      * generate html attibutes with all internal attributes key -> values
+     * to be added in opening tag
      * @return string
      */
     protected function _addAttributes(): string
@@ -69,15 +63,14 @@ class htmlelements
             if (is_array($sValue)) {
                 echo "ERROR: an html tag was defined with array in attribute [$sAttr]:<br><pre>" . print_r($this->_aAttributes, 1) . "</pre>";
             }
-            $sReturn .= ' ' . $sAttr . '="' . $sValue . '"';
-
+            $sReturn .= " $sAttr=\"$sValue\"";
         }
         return $sReturn;
     }
 
 
     /**
-     * internal helper: fetch all attributes from key-value hash; 
+     * Internal helper: fetch all attributes from key-value hash; 
      * Specialties here:
      * - label will be extracted from key 'label' 
      * - and optional existing key 'icon' will be added at beginning of a label
@@ -108,12 +101,12 @@ class htmlelements
     // ----------------------------------------------------------------------
 
     /**
-     * generic function to get html code for a single tag 
+     * Generic function to get html code for a single tag 
      * 
      * @param string   $sTag          tag name
      * @param array    $aAttributes   array with attributes (optional including 'icon' and 'label')
      * @param boolean  $bCloseTag     optional: set false if tag has no closing tag (= ending with "/>")
-     * @return type
+     * @return string html code
      */
     public function getTag(string $sTag, array $aAttributes, bool $bCloseTag = true): string
     {
@@ -130,118 +123,22 @@ class htmlelements
     // ----------------------------------------------------------------------
 
     /**
-     * get html code for an icon
-     * includes a helper detect prefix of a string add prefix of a framework
+     * Helper detect prefix of a string add prefix of a framework
      * i.e. value "fa-close" detects font awesome and adds "fa " as prefix
      * 
-     * @param string $sIconclass  name of the icon
-     * @return string
+     * @param string $sIconclass
+     * @return string HTML code
      */
     public function getIcon(string $sIconclass = ''): string
     {
         if (!$sIconclass) {
             return '';
         }
-        $sPrefix = '';
-        foreach ($this->_aIcons as $sPrefix => $add) {
-            if (strpos($sIconclass, $sPrefix) === 0) {
-                $sPrefix = $add;
-                continue;
-            }
-        }
-        return '<i class="' . $sPrefix . $sIconclass . '"></i> ';
-    }
 
+        // do not use this .. it overrides internal attribute vars
+        // return $this->getTag('i', ['class'=>$sIconclass]);
 
-    // ----------------------------------------------------------------------
-    // 
-    // PUBLIC FUNCTIONS
-    // HTML COMPONENTS
-    // 
-    // ----------------------------------------------------------------------
-
-    /**
-     * get html code for an input field
-     * 
-     * @param array $aAttributes  attributes of the select tag
-     * @return string
-     */
-    public function getFormInput(array $aAttributes): string
-    {
-        $sTpl = '<input %s/>';
-        $this->_setAttributes($aAttributes);
-        return sprintf($sTpl, $this->_addAttributes());
-    }
-    /**
-     * get html code for an option field in a select drop down
-     * 
-     * @param array $aAttributes  attributes of the option tag
-     * @return string
-     */
-    public function getFormOption(array $aAttributes): string
-    {
-        $sTpl = '<option %s>%s</option>';
-        $this->_setAttributes($aAttributes);
-        return sprintf($sTpl, $this->_addAttributes(), $this->_sLabel);
-    }
-    /**
-     * get html code for a select drop down
-     * 
-     * @param array $aAttributes  attributes of the select tag
-     * @param array $aOptions     array for all option fields
-     * @return string
-     */
-    public function getFormSelect(array $aAttributes, array $aOptions = []): string
-    {
-        // $sTpl = '<select %s>%s</select>';
-
-        if (!count($aOptions)) {
-            return '';
-        }
-        $sOptions = '';
-        foreach ($aOptions as $aOptionAttributes) {
-            // $sOptions.=$this->getFormOption($aOptionAttributes);
-            $sOptions .= $this->getTag('option', $aOptionAttributes);
-        }
-        $aAttributes['label'] = $sOptions;
-        return $this->getTag('select', $aAttributes);
+        return "<i class=\"$sIconclass\"></i>&nbsp;&nbsp;";
     }
 
-
-    /**
-     * Generates an HTML table based on the provided header and body arrays.
-     *
-     * @param array $aHead An array of strings representing the table headers.
-     * @param array $aBody A 2-dimensional array of strings representing the table body rows and cells.
-     * @param array $aTableAttributes An optional array of attributes to be applied to the table element.
-     * @return string The HTML code for the generated table.
-     */
-    public function getTable(array $aHead, array $aBody, array $aTableAttributes = []): string
-    {
-        $sReturn = '';
-        $sTdata = '';
-        $sThead = '';
-        $sTpl = '<table %s>'
-            . '<thead><tr>%s</tr></thead>'
-            . '<tbody>%s</tbody>'
-            . '</table>';
-
-        foreach ($aHead as $sTh) {
-            $sThead .= '<th>' . $sTh . '</th>';
-        }
-        foreach ($aBody as $aTr) {
-            $sTdata .= '<tr>';
-            foreach ($aTr as $sTd) {
-                $sTdata .= '<td>' . $sTd . '</td>';
-            }
-            $sTdata .= '</tr>';
-        }
-        $this->_setAttributes($aTableAttributes);
-        return sprintf(
-            $sTpl,
-            $this->_addAttributes(),
-            $sThead,
-            $sTdata
-        );
-    }
 }