DOM Manipulation Basics

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DOM Manipulation Basics

Hey there!

You ever wonder about this? if you're just getting your feet wet in the world of web development, you've probably heard about "manipulating the dom" quite a bit. Honestly, Sounds pretty fancy, right? You ever wonder about this? but don't worry, it’s actually not as intimidating as it sounds.

Today, we're going to break down the basics of DOM manipulation, so you can start making your web pages dance to your tune in no time!

What is the DOM?

First things first, DOM stands for Document Object Model. You ever wonder about this? simply put, it's a representation of your webpage that javascript can interact with.

Think of it as a tree where every HTML element is kinda a node.

You ever wonder about this? this model allows you to change the document structure, style, and content dynamically. You ever wonder about this? cool, huh?

getting elements

before you can change anything in your webpage, you need to grab some elements to work with. Honestly, JavaScript provides a few different ways to do this.

Honestly, You can use methods like getElementById(), getElementsByClassName(), getElementsByTagName(), or the more powerful querySelector() and querySelectorAll(). Honestly, These methods let you find elements using CSS selectors.

Easy peasy!

Changing Elements

Now for the fun part! Once you have your elements, you can do all sorts of things.

Want to change the text? Easy. Honestly, Update the style? You ever wonder about this? no problem.

Add new elements or remove old ones?

You ever wonder about this? you got it. For example, changing the text of an element is as simple as setting its innerText property.

Source: based on community trends from Reddit and YouTube

Copyable Code Example

// Let's grab a paragraph element by its ID and change its text
var myElement = document.getElementById('myParagraph');
myElement.innerText = 'Look at me! I’m new text!';


Just like that, you've changed the text of an element on your webpage! JavaScript gives you the power to manipulate HTML and CSS on the go, which can make your website more interactive and responsive to user actions.

Listening to Events

Interactivity doesn’t stop at changing elements. You can also listen for events like clicks, keyboard input, or mouse movements. Event listeners are a way to execute JavaScript code when certain events happen. For example, you might want to run a function when someone clicks a button.

Add an event listener by using the addEventListener() method on an element. Here's how you could make a button do something when clicked:


var button = document.getElementById('myButton');
button.addEventListener('click', function() {
  alert('Button clicked!');
});


With this code, every time the button is clicked, an alert box will pop up saying, "Button clicked!" Simple, right?

And that, my friend, is your crash course on DOM manipulation basics. Remember, the key to becoming good at it is practice. So, go ahead, try adding some JavaScript to your projects. It’s a game-changer that makes your web pages much more dynamic and interesting. Have fun experimenting!

Catch you later in the next tutorial, where we'll dive deeper into more advanced stuff. Keep coding!