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JavaScript JavaScript and the DOM (Retiring) Getting a Handle on the DOM Selecting Multiple Elements

Posted by Sarah Yasi
Sarah Yasi
7,860 Points

Not sure what I have wrong here.

Trying to figure out why it just returns a null value.

js/app.js 
var listItems = document.getElementById('rainbow');
var colors = ["#C2272D", "#F8931F", "#FFFF01", "#009245", "#0193D9", "#0C04ED", "#612F90"];

for(var i = 0; i < colors.length; i ++ ) {
  listItems[i].style.color = colors[i];    
}
index.html 
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <title>Rainbow!</title>
  </head>
  <body>
    <ul id="rainbow">
      <li>This should be red</li>
      <li>This should be orange</li>
      <li>This should be yellow</li>
      <li>This should be green</li>
      <li>This should be blue</li>
      <li>This should be indigo</li>
      <li>This should be violet</li>
    </ul>
    <script src="js/app.js"></script>
  </body>
</html>

2 Answers

Julian Addison
Julian Addison
13,302 Points
Julian Addison
Julian Addison
13,302 Points

You're not targeting the <li> items with your variable lisIitems. You're just targeting the unordered list element which contains each item you're trying to target. Instead of document.getElementById(), you can use document.querySelectorAll(), and target the list items that exist within the unordered list.

Note that the syntax is a little different for that method. If you want to target and ID or class with a querySelector method, you need to include the '.' or '#' before their class or ID name.

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Document/querySelectorAll

Shaun Kelly
Shaun Kelly
35,560 Points
Shaun Kelly
Shaun Kelly
35,560 Points

Hi Sarah,

Your answer should look like this...

var listItems = document.getElementsByTagName('li');
var colors = ["#C2272D", "#F8931F", "#FFFF01", "#009245", "#0193D9", "#0C04ED", "#612F90"];

for(var i = 0; i < colors.length; i ++) {
  listItems[i].style.color = colors[i];    
}