It’s not a method of document:
function getElementsByClassName(node, classname) {
var a = [];
var re = new RegExp('(^| )'+classname+'( |$)');
var els = node.getElementsByTagName("*");
for(var i=0,j=els.length; i<j; i++)
if(re.test(els[i].className))a.push(els[i]);
return a;
}
tabs = getElementsByClassName(document.body,'tab'); // no document