element

The Element interface represents an object of a Document. This interface describes methods and properties common to all kinds of elements. Specific behaviors are described in interfaces which inherit from Element but add additional functionality. For example, the HTMLElement interface is the base interface for HTML elements, while the SVGElement interface is the basis for all SVG elements.

Languages outside the realm of the Web platform, like XUL through the XULElement interface, also implement it.

Properties

Inherits properties from its parents Node, and its own parent, EventTarget, and implements those of ParentNode, ChildNode, NonDocumentTypeChildNode, and Animatable.

Element.assignedSlot Read only

Returns the HTMLSlotElement interface associated with the element.

Element.attributes Read only

Returns a NamedNodeMap object containing the assigned attributes of the corresponding HTML element.

Element.classList Read only

Returns a DOMTokenList containing the list of class attributes.

Element.className

Is a DOMString representing the class of the element.

Element.clientHeight Read only

Returns a Number representing the inner height of the element.

Element.clientLeft Read only

Returns a Number representing the width of the left border of the element.

Element.clientTop Read only

Returns a Number representing the width of the top border of the element.

Element.clientWidth Read only

Returns a Number representing the inner width of the element.

Element.id

Is a DOMString representing the id of the element.

Element.innerHTML

Is a DOMString representing the markup of the element's content.

Element.localName Read only

A DOMString representing the local part of the qualified name of the element.

Element.namespaceURI Read only

The namespace URI of the element, or null if it is no namespace.

Note: In Firefox 3.5 and earlier, HTML elements are in no namespace. In later versions, HTML elements are in the http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml namespace in both HTML and XML trees.

NonDocumentTypeChildNode.nextElementSibling Read only

Is a Element, the element immediately following the given one in the tree, or null if there's no sibling node.

Element.outerHTML

Is a DOMString representing the markup of the element including its content. When used as a setter, replaces the element with nodes parsed from the given string.

Element.prefix Read only

A DOMString representing the namespace prefix of the element, or null if no prefix is specified.

NonDocumentTypeChildNode.previousElementSibling Read only

Is a Element, the element immediately preceding the given one in the tree, or null if there is no sibling element.

Element.scrollHeight Read only

Returns a Number representing the scroll view height of an element.

Element.scrollLeft

Is a Number representing the left scroll offset of the element.

Element.scrollLeftMax Read only

Returns a Number representing the maximum left scroll offset possible for the element.

Element.scrollTop

Is a Number representing the top scroll offset the an element.

Element.scrollTopMax Read only

Returns a Number representing the maximum top scroll offset possible for the element.

Element.scrollWidth Read only

Returns a Number representing the scroll view width of the element.

Element.shadowRoot Read only

Returns the youngest shadow root that is hosted by the element.

Element.slot

Returns the name of the shadow DOM slot attatched to the element. A slot is a placeholder inside a web component that users can fill with their own markup.

Element.tabStop

Is a Boolean indicating if the element can receive input focus via the tab key.

Element.tagName Read only

Returns a String with the name of the tag for the given element.

Element.undoManager Read only

Returns the UndoManager associated with the element.

Element.undoScope

Is a Boolean indicating if the element is an undo scope host, or not.

Event handlers

Element.ongotpointercapture

Returns the event handler for the gotpointercapture event type.

Element.onlostpointercapture

Returns the event handler for the lostpointercapture event type.

Element.onwheel

Returns the event handling code for the wheel event.

Methods

Inherits methods from its parents Node, and its own parent, EventTarget, and implements those of ParentNode, ChildNode, NonDocumentTypeChildNode, and Animatable.

EventTarget.addEventListener()

Registers an event handler to a specific event type on the element.

Element.attachShadow()

Attatches a shadow DOM tree to the specified element and returns a reference to its ShadowRoot.

Element.animate()

A shortcut method to create and run an animation on an element. Returns the created Animation object instance.

Element.closest()

Returns the Element, descendant of this element (or this element itself), that is the closest ancestor of the elements selected by the selectors given in parameter.

Element.createShadowRoot()

Creates a shadow DOM on on the element, turning it into a shadow host. Returns a ShadowRoot.

EventTarget.dispatchEvent()

Dispatches an event to this node in the DOM and returns a Boolean that indicates that at least one handler has not canceled it.

Element.find()

...

Element.findAll()

...

Element.getAnimations()

Returns an array of Animation objects currently active on the element.

Element.getAttribute()

Retrieves the value of the named attribute from the current node and returns it as an Object.

Element.getAttributeNames()

Element.getAttributeNS()

Retrieves the value of the attribute with the specified name and namespace, from the current node and returns it as an Object.

Element.getAttributeNode()

Retrieves the node representation of the named attribute from the current node and returns it as an Attr.

Element.getAttributeNodeNS()

Retrieves the node representation of the attribute with the specified name and namespace, from the current node and returns it as an Attr.

Element.getBoundingClientRect()

...

Element.getClientRects()

Returns a collection of rectangles that indicate the bounding rectangles for each line of text in a client.

Element.getDestinationInsertionPoints()

…

Element.getElementsByClassName()

Returns a live HTMLCollection that contains all descendants of the current element that possess the list of classes given in the parameter.

Element.getElementsByTagName()

Returns a live HTMLCollection containing all descendant elements, of a particular tag name, from the current element.

Element.getElementsByTagNameNS()

Returns a live HTMLCollection containing all descendant elements, of a particular tag name and namespace, from the current element.

Element.hasAttribute()

Returns a Boolean indicating if the element has the specified attribute or not.

Element.hasAttributeNS()

Returns a Boolean indicating if the element has the specified attribute, in the specified namespace, or not.

Element.hasAttributes()

Returns a Boolean indicating if the element has one or more HTML attributes present.

Element.insertAdjacentElement

Inserts a given element node at a given position relative to the element it is invoked upon.

Element.insertAdjacentHTML

Parses the text as HTML or XML and inserts the resulting nodes into the tree in the position given.

Element.insertAdjacentText

Inserts a given text node at a given position relative to the element it is invoked upon.

Element.matches()

Returns a Boolean indicating whether or not the element would be selected by the specified selector string.

Element.querySelector()

Returns the first Node which matches the specified selector string relative to the element.

Element.querySelectorAll

Returns a NodeList of nodes which match the specified selector string relative to the element.

Element.releasePointerCapture

Releases (stops) pointer capture that was previously set for a specific pointer event.

ChildNode.remove()

Removes the element from the children list of its parent.

Element.removeAttribute()

Removes the named attribute from the current node.

Element.removeAttributeNS()

Removes the attribute with the specified name and namespace, from the current node.

Element.removeAttributeNode()

Removes the node representation of the named attribute from the current node.

EventTarget.removeEventListener()

Removes an event listener from the element.

Element.requestFullscreen()

Asynchronously asks the browser to make the element full-screen.

Element.requestPointerLock()

Allows to asynchronously ask for the pointer to be locked on the given element.

Element.scrollIntoView()

Scrolls the page until the element gets into the view.

Element.setAttribute()

Sets the value of a named attribute of the current node.

Element.setAttributeNS()

Sets the value of the attribute with the specified name and namespace, from the current node.

Element.setAttributeNode()

Sets the node representation of the named attribute from the current node.

Element.setAttributeNodeNS()

Setw the node representation of the attribute with the specified name and namespace, from the current node.

Element.setCapture()

Sets up mouse event capture, redirecting all mouse events to this element.

Element.setPointerCapture()

Designates a specific element as the capture target of future pointer events.

Specifications

Specification	Status	Comment
Shadow DOM	Working Draft
Web Animations	Working Draft	Added the getAnimations() method.
UndoManager and DOMTransaction The definition of 'Element' in that specification.	Editor's Draft	Added the undoScope and undoManager properties.
Pointer Events – Level 2 The definition of 'Element' in that specification.	Working Draft	Added the following event handlers: ongotpointercapture and onlostpointercapture. Added the following methods: setPointerCapture() and releasePointerCapture().
Pointer Events The definition of 'Element' in that specification.	Recommendation	Added the following event handlers: ongotpointercapture and onlostpointercapture. Added the following methods: setPointerCapture() and releasePointerCapture().
Selectors API Level 2 The definition of 'Element' in that specification.	Working Draft	Added the following methods: matches() (implemented as mozMatchesSelector()), find(), findAll().
Selectors API Level 1 The definition of 'Element' in that specification.	Recommendation	Added the following methods: querySelector() and querySelectorAll().
Pointer Lock The definition of 'Element' in that specification.	Candidate Recommendation	Added the requestPointerLock() method.
Fullscreen API The definition of 'Element' in that specification.	Living Standard	Added the requestFullscreen() method.
DOM Parsing and Serialization The definition of 'Element' in that specification.	Working Draft	Added the following properties: innerHTML, and outerHTML. Added the following method: insertAdjacentHTML().
CSS Object Model (CSSOM) View Module The definition of 'Element' in that specification.	Working Draft	Added the following properties: scrollTop, scrollLeft, scrollWidth, scrollHeight, clientTop, clientLeft, clientWidth, and clientHeight. Added the following methods: getClientRects(), getBoundingClientRect(), and scrollIntoView().
Element Traversal Specification The definition of 'Element' in that specification.	Recommendation	Added inheritance of the ElementTraversal interface.
DOM The definition of 'Element' in that specification.	Living Standard	Removed the following methods: closest(), setIdAttribute(), setIdAttributeNS(), and setIdAttributeNode(). Removed the schemaTypeInfo property. Modified the return value of getElementsByTag() and getElementsByTagNS(). Moved hasAttributes() from the Node interface to this one. Inserted insertAdjacentElement() and insertAdjacentText().
Document Object Model (DOM) Level 3 Core Specification The definition of 'Element' in that specification.	Recommendation	Added the following methods: setIdAttribute(), setIdAttributeNS(), and setIdAttributeNode(). These methods were never implemented and have been removed in later specifications. Added the schemaTypeInfo property. This property was never implemented and has been removed in later specifications.
Document Object Model (DOM) Level 2 Core Specification The definition of 'Element' in that specification.	Recommendation	The normalize() method has been moved to Node.
Document Object Model (DOM) Level 1 Specification The definition of 'Element' in that specification.	Recommendation	Initial definition.

Browser compatibility

[1] Internet Explorer 7 and 8 incorrectly return the comments as part of the children of an Element. This is fixed in Internet Explorer 9 and later.

[2] Chrome 16 allowed webkitRequestPointerLock() only in fullscreen; Chrome 21 for trusted web site (permission asked); Chrome 22 allowed it by default for all same-origin document; Chrome 23 allowed it in sandboxed <iframe> if the non-standard value webkit-allow-pointer-lock is set to the sandbox attribute.

[3] Implementation withdrawn. See bug 1166347.

[4] Behind a flag.