title: using jQuery to find elements ordering when the elements are inside different parent elements
body: <p>I have something like this:</p>
  
  <pre><code>&lt;div&gt;
      &lt;ul id="ul_element_id"&gt;
          &lt;li&gt;
              &lt;a id="first"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
          &lt;/li&gt;
          &lt;li&gt;
              &lt;a id="second"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
          &lt;/li&gt;
          &lt;li&gt;
              &lt;a id="third"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
          &lt;/li&gt;
      &lt;/ul&gt;
  &lt;/div&gt;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Is there a quick way to figure out $('#first') is the first guy in relation to other  elements?</p>