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

Posted by Ellinor Carlstedt
Ellinor Carlstedt
5,869 Points

What am I doing wrong?

I don't seem to get this right in WorkSpaces, even though my solution works perfectly well when I simulate it in my own text-editor.

I chose to assign the class "selected" to the links and then used "select elements by class name" to target them in javascript. 

     <nav>
        <ul>
          <li><a href="index.html" class="selected">Portfolio</a></li>     
          <li><a href="about.html" class="selected">About</a></li>
          <li><a href="contact.html" class="selected">Contact</a></li>
        </ul>
      </nav>

```javascript:

let navigationLinks = document.getElementsByClassName("selected");


I get the error message "Bummer. Was expecting 3 links not 1". In default mode, the first link was already assigned the class "selected", so I start wondering whether there is a bug somwhere. As I said, this method works fine in my own texteditor. 

Anyone who can help me?

```js/app.js
let navigationLinks = document.getElementsByClassName("selected");
let galleryLinks;
let footerImages;
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" class="selected">About</a></li>
          <li><a href="contact.html" class="selected">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>

2 Answers

andren
andren
28,558 Points
andren
andren
28,558 Points

While the task does not explicitly state it, the HTML is only meant to be used as a reference point to understand the structure of the page, you are not meant to modify it at all. The main point of this challenge is to find ways of selecting the elements without modifying the HTML.

The easiest way to do so is by using the document.querySelectorAll method. It accepts any CSS selector as an argument, which means that you can pass it a descendant selector.

Like this:

// Select `a` elements that are descendants of a `nav` element
let navigationLinks = document.querySelectorAll("nav a");
Ellinor Carlstedt
Ellinor Carlstedt
5,869 Points
Ellinor Carlstedt
Ellinor Carlstedt
5,869 Points

Thank you so much for taking the time to answer! I get it now.