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

Jesse Thompson
Jesse Thompson
10,684 Points
Posted by Jesse Thompson
Jesse Thompson
10,684 Points

Why isnt it selecting the links when I use querySelectorAll?

This is the code I am using for the first step of the challenge

Ive tried a couple of ways but for some reason I just cant hack it.

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

There's a few issues here:

  • getElementsByTagName returns a collection, not a single element
  • you can't use querySelectorAll on a collection
  • the instructions say to target links (a), but your final target is list items (li).

You can fix those issues and pass, but there's a much simpler solution possible using only querySelectorAll directly on the document (with a descendant selector argument).

Jesse Thompson
Jesse Thompson
10,684 Points
Jesse Thompson
Jesse Thompson
10,684 Points

Yes I ended up doing this document.querySelectorAll("nav > ul > li > a"); I reread it and realized It was referencing the links directly.

thankyou for the feedback.

Also to clarify. When you say "you can't use querySelectorAll on a collection" that means that I cannot do something like getElementsByTagName('ul').querySelectorAll('li'); because Elements means its getting a collection? Or do you mean I cant use querySelectorAll to select collections?

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

You had it right the first time. Since getElementsByTagName returns a collection, you can't use querySelectorAll on it directly. But you could select an element from it ("...getElementsByTagName('ul')[0].querySelectorAll('li')").

And "nav > ul > li > a" works in this case, bit it's a bit overly specific. The phrase "all links in the nav element" translates directly into "nav a"

Jesse Thompson
Jesse Thompson
10,684 Points
Jesse Thompson
Jesse Thompson
10,684 Points

gotchu. makes a lot of sense. Thanks a bunch Steven.