Welcome to the Treehouse Community

Want to collaborate on code errors? Have bugs you need feedback on? Looking for an extra set of eyes on your latest project? Get support with fellow developers, designers, and programmers of all backgrounds and skill levels here with the Treehouse Community! While you're at it, check out some resources Treehouse students have shared here.

Looking to learn something new?

Treehouse offers a seven day free trial for new students. Get access to thousands of hours of content and join thousands of Treehouse students and alumni in the community today.

Start your free trial

JavaScript JavaScript and the DOM (Retiring) Traversing the DOM Using previousElementSibling and insertBefore

varlevi
varlevi
8,113 Points
Posted by varlevi
varlevi
8,113 Points

previousSibling vs. previousElementSibling

I the video, Guil explains the reason for why previousElementSibling is better than previousSibling, but my question is why Ecma International (the people who standardize and update JavaScript/EMCAScript) didn't just "update" previousSibling to do what previousElementSibling now does?

1 Answer

Steven Parker
Steven Parker
231,248 Points
Steven Parker
Steven Parker
231,248 Points

They have different uses. Sometimes, you want to access the previous node, which might not be an element. In that case you would use previousSibling. The previousElementSibling is a better choice when you only want an element, but it's not always a suitable replacement for previousSibling.