![]() Example of DOM hierarchy in an HTML document | |
Abbreviation | DOM |
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First published | October 1, 1998 |
Latest version | DOM4[1] November 19, 2015 |
Organization | World Wide Web Consortium, WHATWG |
Base standards | WHATWG DOM Living Standard W3C DOM4 |
HTML |
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Comparisons |
The Document Object Model (DOM) is a cross-platform and language-independent interface that treats an HTML or XML document as a tree structure wherein each node is an object representing a part of the document. The DOM represents a document with a logical tree. Each branch of the tree ends in a node, and each node contains objects. DOM methods allow programmatic access to the tree; with them one can change the structure, style or content of a document.[2] Nodes can have event handlers (also known as event listeners) attached to them. Once an event is triggered, the event handlers get executed.[3]
The principal standardization of the DOM was handled by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), which last developed a recommendation in 2004. WHATWG took over the development of the standard, publishing it as a living document. The W3C now publishes stable snapshots of the WHATWG standard.
In HTML DOM (Document Object Model), every element is a node:[4]
The Document Object Model is a platform- and language-neutral interface that will allow programs and scripts to dynamically access and update the content, structure and style of documents.