diff --git a/package-lock.json b/package-lock.json
index 321cb716..07056052 100644
--- a/package-lock.json
+++ b/package-lock.json
@@ -992,6 +992,11 @@
         "@types/node": "*"
       }
     },
+    "abab": {
+      "version": "2.0.0",
+      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/abab/-/abab-2.0.0.tgz",
+      "integrity": "sha512-sY5AXXVZv4Y1VACTtR11UJCPHHudgY5i26Qj5TypE6DKlIApbwb5uqhXcJ5UUGbvZNRh7EeIoW+LrJumBsKp7w=="
+    },
     "acorn": {
       "version": "5.7.3",
       "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/acorn/-/acorn-5.7.3.tgz",
@@ -1108,6 +1113,12 @@
       "integrity": "sha1-7GphrlZIDAw8skHJVhjiCJL5Zyo=",
       "dev": true
     },
+    "async-limiter": {
+      "version": "1.0.0",
+      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/async-limiter/-/async-limiter-1.0.0.tgz",
+      "integrity": "sha512-jp/uFnooOiO+L211eZOoSyzpOITMXx1rBITauYykG3BRYPu8h0UcxsPNB04RR5vo4Tyz3+ay17tR6JVf9qzYWg==",
+      "optional": true
+    },
     "atob": {
       "version": "2.1.2",
       "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/atob/-/atob-2.1.2.tgz",
@@ -1645,6 +1656,12 @@
         }
       }
     },
+    "diff": {
+      "version": "3.5.0",
+      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/diff/-/diff-3.5.0.tgz",
+      "integrity": "sha512-A46qtFgd+g7pDZinpnwiRJtxbC1hpgf0uzP3iG89scHk0AUC7A1TGxf5OiiOUv/JMZR8GOt8hL900hV0bOy5xA==",
+      "dev": true
+    },
     "doctrine": {
       "version": "2.1.0",
       "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/doctrine/-/doctrine-2.1.0.tgz",
@@ -2110,12 +2127,12 @@
       "dev": true
     },
     "formatio": {
-      "version": "1.1.1",
-      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/formatio/-/formatio-1.1.1.tgz",
-      "integrity": "sha1-XtPM1jZVEJc4NGXZlhmRAOhhYek=",
+      "version": "1.2.0",
+      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/formatio/-/formatio-1.2.0.tgz",
+      "integrity": "sha1-87IWfZBoxGmKjVH092CjmlTYGOs=",
       "dev": true,
       "requires": {
-        "samsam": "~1.1"
+        "samsam": "1.x"
       }
     },
     "fragment-cache": {
@@ -2578,9 +2595,9 @@
       "dev": true
     },
     "lolex": {
-      "version": "1.3.2",
-      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/lolex/-/lolex-1.3.2.tgz",
-      "integrity": "sha1-fD2mL/yzDw9agKJWbKJORdigHzE=",
+      "version": "1.6.0",
+      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/lolex/-/lolex-1.6.0.tgz",
+      "integrity": "sha1-OpoCg0UqR9dDnnJzG54H1zhuSfY=",
       "dev": true
     },
     "loose-envify": {
@@ -2759,6 +2776,12 @@
         "to-regex": "^3.0.1"
       }
     },
+    "native-promise-only": {
+      "version": "0.8.1",
+      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/native-promise-only/-/native-promise-only-0.8.1.tgz",
+      "integrity": "sha1-IKMYwwy0X3H+et+/eyHJnBRy7xE=",
+      "dev": true
+    },
     "natural-compare": {
       "version": "1.4.0",
       "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/natural-compare/-/natural-compare-1.4.0.tgz",
@@ -7643,6 +7666,23 @@
       "integrity": "sha512-GSmOT2EbHrINBf9SR7CDELwlJ8AENk3Qn7OikK4nFYAu3Ote2+JYNVvkpAEQm3/TLNEJFD/xZJjzyxg3KBWOzw==",
       "dev": true
     },
+    "path-to-regexp": {
+      "version": "1.7.0",
+      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/path-to-regexp/-/path-to-regexp-1.7.0.tgz",
+      "integrity": "sha1-Wf3g9DW62suhA6hOnTvGTpa5k30=",
+      "dev": true,
+      "requires": {
+        "isarray": "0.0.1"
+      },
+      "dependencies": {
+        "isarray": {
+          "version": "0.0.1",
+          "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/isarray/-/isarray-0.0.1.tgz",
+          "integrity": "sha1-ihis/Kmo9Bd+Cav8YDiTmwXR7t8=",
+          "dev": true
+        }
+      }
+    },
     "pinkie": {
       "version": "2.0.4",
       "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/pinkie/-/pinkie-2.0.4.tgz",
@@ -8093,9 +8133,9 @@
       "dev": true
     },
     "samsam": {
-      "version": "1.1.2",
-      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/samsam/-/samsam-1.1.2.tgz",
-      "integrity": "sha1-vsEf3IOp/aBjQBIQ5AF2wwJNFWc=",
+      "version": "1.3.0",
+      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/samsam/-/samsam-1.3.0.tgz",
+      "integrity": "sha512-1HwIYD/8UlOtFS3QO3w7ey+SdSDFE4HRNLZoZRYVQefrOY3l17epswImeB1ijgJFQJodIaHcwkp3r/myBjFVbg==",
       "dev": true
     },
     "semver": {
@@ -8155,15 +8195,19 @@
       "dev": true
     },
     "sinon": {
-      "version": "1.17.7",
-      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/sinon/-/sinon-1.17.7.tgz",
-      "integrity": "sha1-RUKk9JugxFwF6y6d2dID4rjv4L8=",
+      "version": "2.4.1",
+      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/sinon/-/sinon-2.4.1.tgz",
+      "integrity": "sha512-vFTrO9Wt0ECffDYIPSP/E5bBugt0UjcBQOfQUMh66xzkyPEnhl/vM2LRZi2ajuTdkH07sA6DzrM6KvdvGIH8xw==",
       "dev": true,
       "requires": {
-        "formatio": "1.1.1",
-        "lolex": "1.3.2",
-        "samsam": "1.1.2",
-        "util": ">=0.10.3 <1"
+        "diff": "^3.1.0",
+        "formatio": "1.2.0",
+        "lolex": "^1.6.0",
+        "native-promise-only": "^0.8.1",
+        "path-to-regexp": "^1.7.0",
+        "samsam": "^1.1.3",
+        "text-encoding": "0.6.4",
+        "type-detect": "^4.0.0"
       }
     },
     "sinon-qunit": {
@@ -8454,6 +8498,12 @@
         }
       }
     },
+    "text-encoding": {
+      "version": "0.6.4",
+      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/text-encoding/-/text-encoding-0.6.4.tgz",
+      "integrity": "sha1-45mpgiV6J22uQou5KEXLcb3CbRk=",
+      "dev": true
+    },
     "text-table": {
       "version": "0.2.0",
       "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/text-table/-/text-table-0.2.0.tgz",
@@ -8538,6 +8588,12 @@
         "prelude-ls": "~1.1.2"
       }
     },
+    "type-detect": {
+      "version": "4.0.8",
+      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/type-detect/-/type-detect-4.0.8.tgz",
+      "integrity": "sha512-0fr/mIH1dlO+x7TlcMy+bIDqKPsw/70tVyeHW787goQjhmqaZe10uwLujubK9q9Lg6Fiho1KUKDYz0Z7k7g5/g==",
+      "dev": true
+    },
     "typedarray": {
       "version": "0.0.6",
       "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/typedarray/-/typedarray-0.0.6.tgz",
@@ -8704,23 +8760,6 @@
       "integrity": "sha512-cwESVXlO3url9YWlFW/TA9cshCEhtu7IKJ/p5soJ/gGpj7vbvFrAY/eIioQ6Dw23KjZhYgiIo8HOs1nQ2vr/oQ==",
       "dev": true
     },
-    "util": {
-      "version": "0.10.3",
-      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/util/-/util-0.10.3.tgz",
-      "integrity": "sha1-evsa/lCAUkZInj23/g7TeTNqwPk=",
-      "dev": true,
-      "requires": {
-        "inherits": "2.0.1"
-      },
-      "dependencies": {
-        "inherits": {
-          "version": "2.0.1",
-          "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/inherits/-/inherits-2.0.1.tgz",
-          "integrity": "sha1-sX0I0ya0Qj5Wjv9xn5GwscvfafE=",
-          "dev": true
-        }
-      }
-    },
     "util-deprecate": {
       "version": "1.0.2",
       "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/util-deprecate/-/util-deprecate-1.0.2.tgz",
@@ -8760,6 +8799,21 @@
         "mkdirp": "^0.5.1"
       }
     },
+    "ws": {
+      "version": "7.0.0",
+      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/ws/-/ws-7.0.0.tgz",
+      "integrity": "sha512-cknCal4k0EAOrh1SHHPPWWh4qm93g1IuGGGwBjWkXmCG7LsDtL8w9w+YVfaF+KSVwiHQKDIMsSLBVftKf9d1pg==",
+      "optional": true,
+      "requires": {
+        "async-limiter": "^1.0.0"
+      }
+    },
+    "xmldom": {
+      "version": "0.1.27",
+      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/xmldom/-/xmldom-0.1.27.tgz",
+      "integrity": "sha1-1QH5ezvbQDr4757MIFcxh6rawOk=",
+      "optional": true
+    },
     "xvfb": {
       "version": "0.2.3",
       "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/xvfb/-/xvfb-0.2.3.tgz",
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index b9609d66..6143793d 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@
   "unpkg": "dist/strophe.umd.min.js",
   "scripts": {
     "build": "rollup -c",
-    "lint": "make jshint",
+    "lint": "make eslint",
     "clean": "make clean",
     "doc": "make doc",
     "prepare": "yarpm run build"
@@ -69,9 +69,15 @@
     "rollup-plugin-node-resolve": "^5.0.0",
     "rollup-plugin-uglify": "^6.0.2",
     "run-headless-chromium": "^0.1.1",
-    "sinon": "1.17.7",
-    "sinon-qunit": "~2.0.0",
+    "sinon": "^2.4.1",
+    "sinon-qunit": "^2.0.0",
     "yarpm": "^0.2.1"
   },
-  "dependencies": {}
+  "dependencies": {
+    "abab": "^2.0.0"
+  },
+  "optionalDependencies": {
+    "ws": "^7.0.0",
+    "xmldom": "^0.1.27"
+  }
 }
diff --git a/rollup.config.js b/rollup.config.js
index 212a2108..7c406b98 100644
--- a/rollup.config.js
+++ b/rollup.config.js
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ export default [
             commonjs(),
             globals(),
             babel({
-                exclude: ['node_modules/**'],
+                babelrc: false,
                 presets: [
                     ['@babel/preset-env', {
                         targets: {
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ export default [
             commonjs(),
             globals(),
             babel({
-                exclude: ['node_modules/**'],
+                babelrc: false,
                 presets: [
                     ['@babel/preset-env', {
                         targets: {
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ export default [
     // CommonJS (for Node) and ES module (for bundlers) build.
     {
         input: 'src/strophe.js',
-        external: ['window', 'md5'],
+        external: ['window', 'abab'],
         output: [
             { file: pkg.main, format: 'cjs' },
             { file: pkg.module, format: 'es' }
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ export default [
         plugins: [
             globals(),
             babel({
-                exclude: ['node_modules/**'],
+                babelrc: false,
                 presets: [
                     ['@babel/preset-env']
                 ]
diff --git a/src/bosh.js b/src/bosh.js
index 95a1c0ec..bd7aeea6 100644
--- a/src/bosh.js
+++ b/src/bosh.js
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 
 /* global window, setTimeout, clearTimeout, XMLHttpRequest, ActiveXObject */
 
+import { DOMParser } from './shims'
 import core from './core';
 
 const Strophe = core.Strophe;
diff --git a/src/core.js b/src/core.js
index 93154162..18db063c 100644
--- a/src/core.js
+++ b/src/core.js
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@
 */
 /*global define, document, sessionStorage, setTimeout, clearTimeout, ActiveXObject, DOMParser, btoa, atob, module */
 
+import * as shims from './shims';
+import { atob, btoa } from 'abab'
 import MD5 from './md5';
 import SHA1 from './sha1';
 import utils from './utils';
@@ -330,26 +332,6 @@ const Strophe = {
      */
     _xmlGenerator: null,
 
-    /** PrivateFunction: _makeGenerator
-     *  _Private_ function that creates a dummy XML DOM document to serve as
-     *  an element and text node generator.
-     */
-    _makeGenerator: function () {
-        let doc;
-        // IE9 does implement createDocument(); however, using it will cause the browser to leak memory on page unload.
-        // Here, we test for presence of createDocument() plus IE's proprietary documentMode attribute, which would be
-        // less than 10 in the case of IE9 and below.
-        if (document.implementation.createDocument === undefined ||
-                    document.implementation.createDocument && document.documentMode && document.documentMode < 10) {
-            doc = this._getIEXmlDom();
-            doc.appendChild(doc.createElement('strophe'));
-        } else {
-            doc = document.implementation
-                .createDocument('jabber:client', 'strophe', null);
-        }
-        return doc;
-    },
-
     /** Function: xmlGenerator
      *  Get the DOM document to generate elements.
      *
@@ -358,45 +340,11 @@ const Strophe = {
      */
     xmlGenerator: function () {
         if (!Strophe._xmlGenerator) {
-            Strophe._xmlGenerator = Strophe._makeGenerator();
+            Strophe._xmlGenerator = shims.getDummyXMLDOMDocument()
         }
         return Strophe._xmlGenerator;
     },
 
-    /** PrivateFunction: _getIEXmlDom
-     *  Gets IE xml doc object
-     *
-     *  Returns:
-     *    A Microsoft XML DOM Object
-     *  See Also:
-     *    http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms757837%28VS.85%29.aspx
-     */
-    _getIEXmlDom : function() {
-        let doc = null;
-        const docStrings = [
-            "Msxml2.DOMDocument.6.0",
-            "Msxml2.DOMDocument.5.0",
-            "Msxml2.DOMDocument.4.0",
-            "MSXML2.DOMDocument.3.0",
-            "MSXML2.DOMDocument",
-            "MSXML.DOMDocument",
-            "Microsoft.XMLDOM"
-        ];
-
-        for (let d=0; d<docStrings.length; d++) {
-            if (doc === null) {
-                try {
-                    doc = new ActiveXObject(docStrings[d]);
-                } catch (e) {
-                    doc = null;
-                }
-            } else {
-                break;
-            }
-        }
-        return doc;
-    },
-
     /** Function: xmlElement
      *  Create an XML DOM element.
      *
@@ -512,8 +460,8 @@ const Strophe = {
     xmlHtmlNode: function (html) {
         let node;
         //ensure text is escaped
-        if (DOMParser) {
-            const parser = new DOMParser();
+        if (shims.DOMParser) {
+            const parser = new shims.DOMParser();
             node = parser.parseFromString(html, "text/xml");
         } else {
             node = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLDOM");
@@ -1160,7 +1108,7 @@ Strophe.Builder.prototype = {
      *    The Strophe.Builder object.
      */
     h: function (html) {
-        const fragment = document.createElement('body');
+        const fragment = Strophe.xmlGenerator().createElement('body');
         // force the browser to try and fix any invalid HTML tags
         fragment.innerHTML = html;
         // copy cleaned html into an xml dom
@@ -3505,7 +3453,6 @@ Strophe.SASLOAuthBearer.prototype = new Strophe.SASLMechanism("OAUTHBEARER", tru
 Strophe.SASLOAuthBearer.prototype.test = function(connection) {
     return connection.pass !== null;
 };
-
 Strophe.SASLOAuthBearer.prototype.onChallenge = function(connection) {
     let auth_str = 'n,';
     if (connection.authcid !== null) {
diff --git a/src/shims.js b/src/shims.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..6e0e15e0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/shims.js
@@ -0,0 +1,123 @@
+/*
+ * This module provides uniform
+ * Shims APIs and globals that are not present in all JS environments,
+ * the most common example for Strophe being browser APIs like WebSocket
+ * and DOM that don't exist under nodejs.
+ *
+ * Usually these will be supplied in nodejs by conditionally requiring a
+ * NPM module that provides a compatible implementation.
+ */
+
+/* global global */
+
+/**
+ * WHATWG WebSockets API
+ * https://www.w3.org/TR/websockets/
+ *
+ * Interface to use the web socket protocol
+ *
+ * Used implementations:
+ * - supported browsers: built-in in WebSocket global
+ *   https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/WebSocket#Browser_compatibility
+ * - nodejs: use standard-compliant 'ws' module
+ *   https://www.npmjs.com/package/ws
+ */
+function getWebSocketImplementation () {
+    let WebSocketImplementation = global.WebSocket
+    if (typeof WebSocketImplementation === 'undefined') {
+        try {
+            WebSocketImplementation = require('ws');
+        } catch (err) {
+            throw new Error('You must install the "ws" package to use Strophe in nodejs.');
+        }
+    }
+    return WebSocketImplementation
+}
+export const WebSocket = getWebSocketImplementation()
+
+/**
+ * DOMParser
+ * https://w3c.github.io/DOM-Parsing/#the-domparser-interface
+ *
+ * Interface to parse XML strings into Document objects
+ *
+ * Used implementations:
+ * - supported browsers: built-in in DOMParser global
+ *   https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/DOMParser#Browser_compatibility
+ * - nodejs: use 'xmldom' module
+ *   https://www.npmjs.com/package/xmldom
+ */
+function getDOMParserImplementation () {
+    let DOMParserImplementation = global.DOMParser
+    if (typeof DOMParserImplementation === 'undefined') {
+        try {
+            DOMParserImplementation = require('xmldom').DOMParser;
+        } catch (err) {
+            throw new Error('You must install the "xmldom" package to use Strophe in nodejs.');
+        }
+    }
+    return DOMParserImplementation
+}
+export const DOMParser = getDOMParserImplementation()
+
+/**
+ *  Gets IE xml doc object. Used by getDummyXMLDocument shim.
+ *
+ *  Returns:
+ *    A Microsoft XML DOM Object
+ *  See Also:
+ *    http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms757837%28VS.85%29.aspx
+ */
+function _getIEXmlDom () {
+    const docStrings = [
+        "Msxml2.DOMDocument.6.0",
+        "Msxml2.DOMDocument.5.0",
+        "Msxml2.DOMDocument.4.0",
+        "MSXML2.DOMDocument.3.0",
+        "MSXML2.DOMDocument",
+        "MSXML.DOMDocument",
+        "Microsoft.XMLDOM"
+    ];
+    for (let d = 0; d < docStrings.length; d++) {
+        try {
+            // eslint-disable-next-line no-undef
+            const doc = new ActiveXObject(docStrings[d]);
+            return doc
+        } catch (e) {
+            // Try next one
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+/**
+ * Creates a dummy XML DOM document to serve as an element and text node generator.
+ *
+ * Used implementations:
+ *  - IE < 10: avoid using createDocument() due to a memory leak, use ie-specific
+ *    workaround
+ *  - other supported browsers: use document's createDocument
+ *  - nodejs: use 'xmldom'
+ */
+export function getDummyXMLDOMDocument () {
+    // nodejs
+    if (typeof document === 'undefined') {
+        try {
+            const DOMImplementation = require('xmldom').DOMImplementation;
+            return new DOMImplementation().createDocument('jabber:client', 'strophe', null);
+        } catch (err) {
+            throw new Error('You must install the "xmldom" package to use Strophe in nodejs.');
+        }
+    }
+    // IE < 10
+    if (
+        document.implementation.createDocument === undefined ||
+        document.implementation.createDocument && document.documentMode && document.documentMode < 10
+    ) {
+        const doc = _getIEXmlDom();
+        doc.appendChild(doc.createElement('strophe'));
+        return doc
+    }
+    // All other supported browsers
+    return document.implementation.createDocument('jabber:client', 'strophe', null)
+}
+
diff --git a/src/websocket.js b/src/websocket.js
index 61411b7d..5a03c7a2 100644
--- a/src/websocket.js
+++ b/src/websocket.js
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 
 /* global window, clearTimeout, WebSocket, DOMParser */
 
+import { DOMParser, WebSocket } from './shims';
 import core from './core';
 
 const Strophe = core.Strophe;
diff --git a/tests/index.html b/tests/index.html
index e8548a81..3b178e85 100644
--- a/tests/index.html
+++ b/tests/index.html
@@ -1,24 +1,21 @@
 <!DOCTYPE html>
 <html>
   <head>
-	<script src="../node_modules/qunitjs/qunit/qunit.js"></script>
-    <script>QUnit.config.autostart = false;</script>
-    <script src="../main.js"></script>
-	<script src="../node_modules/requirejs/require.js" data-main="main.js"></script>
-    <link rel="stylesheet"
-	      href="../node_modules/qunitjs/qunit/qunit.css"
-          type="text/css">
-    
+    <link rel="stylesheet" href="../node_modules/qunitjs/qunit/qunit.css" type="text/css">
     <title>Strophe.js Tests</title>
   </head>
   <body>
     <h1 id="qunit-header">Strophe.js Tests</h1>
     <h2 id="qunit-banner"></h2>
     <h2 id="qunit-userAgent"></h2>
-	<div id="qunit"></div>
-	<div id="qunit-fixture"></div>
+    <div id="qunit"></div>
+    <div id="qunit-fixture"></div>
     <ol id="qunit-tests"></ol>
     <div id="main"></div>
-	<div id="qunit-testresult"></div>
+    <div id="qunit-testresult"></div>
+    <script src="../node_modules/qunitjs/qunit/qunit.js"></script>
+    <script>QUnit.config.autostart = false;</script>
+    <!-- <script src="../main.js"></script> -->
+    <script src="../node_modules/requirejs/require.js" data-main="main.js"></script>
   </body>
 </html>