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JavaScript JavaScript and the DOM (Retiring) Making Changes to the DOM Styling Elements

Posted by Ashley Campbell
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Ashley Campbell
Front End Web Development Techdegree Graduate 21,004 Points

querySelector vs getElementByClassName

In the video Guil used querySelector('.list') to select the <div> on the page.

However i used getElementByClassName('list'), but it didn't work as expected and it only selected the <p> nested within the <div>. Why didn't this select the whole <div> element which has the class = list??

Thanks

2 Answers

Steven Parker
Steven Parker
231,271 Points
Steven Parker
Steven Parker
231,271 Points

The "getElementsByClassName" (note the spelling, with elements plural) method does not return a single element like "querySelector" does. Instead, it returns an HTMLCollection which is like an array..

But I'm not sure why this would have appeared to select a paragraph element. For a more precise answer, please show your complete code, or make a snapshot of your workspace and post the link to it here.

Ashley Campbell
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.a{fill-rule:evenodd;}techdegree seal-36
Ashley Campbell
Front End Web Development Techdegree Graduate 21,004 Points
Ashley Campbell
.a{fill-rule:evenodd;}techdegree seal-36
Ashley Campbell
Front End Web Development Techdegree Graduate 21,004 Points

thanks for explaining that Steven. There's me thinking that the getElementByClassName would treat a <div> as one element, but yeah that makes sense if there's lots of elements contained in the <div>!

Had a small error in my code which was causing the <p> to disappear. Thanks!