jquery will provide you with this and more ...
if($("#something").val()){ //do stuff}
It took me a couple of days to pick it up, but it provides you with you with so much more functionality. An example below.
jQuery(document).ready(function() {
/* finds closest element with class divright/left and
makes all checkboxs inside that div class the same as selectAll...
*/
$("#selectAll").click(function() {
$(this).closest('.divright').find(':checkbox').attr('checked', this.checked);
});
});