Use the javascript hex entity for a non-breaking space:
var test=document.createTextNode('\xa0test');
That is the only way I know of to do exactly what you propose. There are other avenues to get the effect desired, depending upon just what that is, like appending a span with padding which itself has had the text node appended to it.
Notes: FF is just formating the text in the same manner as it would if the element and text were hard coded. Like if you had:
<script type="text/javascript">
onload=function(){
var test=document.createTextNode(' test');
document.body.appendChild(test);
}
</script>
</head>
<body>
test
</body>
The output would be:
test test
- the space would be preserved, but with:
<script type="text/javascript">
onload=function(){
var test=document.createTextNode(' test');
document.body.appendChild(test);
}
</script>
</head>
<body>
<div>test</div>
</body>
the output is:
test
test
Since the space in the text node is now leading in its parent, it is ignored, just as it would be if you had:
<body>
<div>test</div>
test
</body>
with no script at all.