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

datajournalismguy
datajournalismguy
3,274 Points
Posted by datajournalismguy
datajournalismguy
3,274 Points

Selecting elements in the DOM: Is there an easier way to do this?

Just wondering. Thanks for any suggestions!

js/app.js 
let navigationLinks = document.querySelectorAll("nav > ul > li > a");
let galleryLinks = document.querySelectorAll("#gallery > li > a");
let footerImages = document.querySelectorAll("footer > a > img");
index.html 
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <meta charset="utf-8">
    <title>Nick Pettit | Designer</title>
    <link rel="stylesheet" href="css/normalize.css">
    <link href='http://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Changa+One|Open+Sans:400italic,700italic,400,700,800' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css'>
    <link rel="stylesheet" href="css/main.css">
    <link rel="stylesheet" href="css/responsive.css">
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
  </head>
  <body>
    <header>
      <a href="index.html" id="logo">
        <h1>Nick Pettit</h1>
        <h2>Designer</h2>
      </a>
      <nav>
        <ul>
          <li><a href="index.html" class="selected">Portfolio</a></li>
          <li><a href="about.html">About</a></li>
          <li><a href="contact.html">Contact</a></li>
        </ul>
      </nav>
    </header>
    <div id="wrapper">
      <section>
        <ul id="gallery">
          <li>
            <a href="img/numbers-01.jpg">
              <img src="img/numbers-01.jpg" alt="">
              <p>Experimentation with color and texture.</p>
            </a>
          </li>
          <li>
            <a href="img/numbers-02.jpg">
              <img src="img/numbers-02.jpg" alt="">
              <p>Playing with blending modes in Photoshop.</p>
            </a>
          </li>
        </ul>
      </section>
      <footer>
        <a href="http://twitter.com/nickrp"><img src="img/twitter-wrap.png" alt="Twitter Logo" class="social-icon"></a>
        <a href="http://facebook.com/nickpettit"><img src="img/facebook-wrap.png" alt="Facebook Logo" class="social-icon"></a>
        <p>&copy; 2016 Nick Pettit.</p>
      </footer>
    </div>
  <script src="js/app.js"></script>
  </body>
</html>

1 Answer

furkan
furkan
11,733 Points

Hey there Simon,

Usually, it helps to select elements by there id name as it is an easy fix when used in JavaScript.

let elementOne = document.getElementById("element-one");

However, adding a lot of id's into your HTML seems very impracticable. So, there is not an 'easy one go type' selection. However, querySelectorAll() is very flexible and can be used to select anything. Thus, I would suggest using that because it is quicker in selecting child elements. But do make use of all the different types.

It really depends on what you want to choose, I hope that helped :)