Glossary of terms

Document Object Model (DOM)

Definition

The Document Object Model (DOM) is a programming interface for web documents that represents the structure of a webpage as a tree-like hierarchy of nodes. It provides a way for programming languages (like JavaScript) to access and manipulate the content, structure, and style of a web document.

Main Features

1. Node Tree Structure: The DOM represents the entire document as a tree of nodes. Each node can be an element (e.g., <div>, <p>), text, comment, or other types of nodes.

2. Manipulation: The DOM allows for programmatic modification, addition, and removal of elements, attributes, styles, and text content within a document.

3. Event Handling: The DOM provides a way to handle and respond to various user events, such as clicks, key presses, mouse movements, and form submissions.

4. Traversal: The DOM allows for traversing the node tree, enabling access to specific elements or sets of elements based on their relationships or properties.

5. Style Manipulation: The DOM provides interfaces to read and modify the CSS styles applied to elements, enabling dynamic styling of web pages.

Scope of DOM

The scope of the DOM encompasses the entire structure, content, and behavior of web documents loaded in a browser or web-based environment. It provides a standardized way to programmatically access and manipulate the following aspects of a web page:

1. Document Structure: The DOM represents the hierarchical structure of HTML elements, allowing for the addition, removal, or modification of these elements.

2. Element Properties: The DOM allows for reading and modifying the properties of HTML elements, such as their attributes, classes, and inline styles.

3. Text Content: The DOM provides access to the text content within HTML elements, enabling dynamic updates or retrieval of text.

4. Event Handling: The DOM enables the binding of event handlers to HTML elements, allowing for the execution of JavaScript code in response to user interactions or browser events.

5. Style Management: The DOM provides interfaces to read and modify the CSS styles applied to HTML elements, enabling dynamic styling of the web page.

6. Document Traversal: The DOM allows for traversing the document tree, enabling navigation and selection of specific elements based on their relationships or properties.

The DOM is a crucial part of web development as it enables dynamic interactions, content manipulation, and behavior control within web pages. It provides a standardized interface for programming languages, primarily JavaScript, to interact with and modify the structure, content, and presentation of web documents.

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