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

Branden Ng
Branden Ng
8,904 Points
Posted by Branden Ng
Branden Ng
8,904 Points

Only selects 1 link when used getElementsByTagName('nav');

it wont select 3 links. Am I referencing the wrong tag name?

js/app.js 
let navigationLinks = document.getElementsByTagName('nav');
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">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>

2 Answers

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

But you also don't want every link on the page, just the ones in the nav element. So you could chain two calls together, or you could use a descendant selector in a single querySelectorAll call. Either way works.

UPDATE: The second attempt is just missing an index to convert the first collection into a single element. You could also use another getElementsByTagName call:

let navigationLinks = document.getElementsByTagName("nav")[0].getElementsByTagName("a");

My suggestion about querySelectorAll is it could replace the entire chain by combining the two tag names into a descendant selector (where they are separated by a space).

Branden Ng
Branden Ng
8,904 Points
Branden Ng
Branden Ng
8,904 Points

Right, thank you for the answer I understood it completely. However, do you mind providing the querySelectorAll solution too? Would like to know how it looks, cheers!

Steven Parker
Steven Parker
231,271 Points
Steven Parker
Steven Parker
231,271 Points 
document.querySelectorAll("nav a")  // select links "a" inside the nav
Branden Ng
Branden Ng
8,904 Points
Branden Ng
Branden Ng
8,904 Points

Hm. Doesn't seem to work when I try:

let navigationLinks = document.getElementsByTagName("nav").querySelectorAll("a");

wrong syntax or?

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

See the update I added to my answer.