There is no difference between .append() and .appendTo() functions except the syntax:

$('.target').append('text');
$('text').appendTo('.target');

But they both needed because of chaining and code readability:

$(function(){
    $('.target').append('<div class="element well">.element</div>')
        .css('background-color', 'yellow'); // yellow collor added to .target
    
    $('<div class="element2 well">.element2</div>').appendTo('.target2')
        .css('background-color', 'yellow'); // yellow collor added to .element2
});​

html:

<div class="well target">
    <span class="label label-info">.append() example</span> .target
</div>

<div class="well target2">
    <span class="label label-info">.appendTo() example</span> .target2
</div>

The same difference applies to:

• .prepend() vs .prependTo()
• .before() vs .insertBefore()
• .after() vs .insertAfter()