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

Maxence Roy
Maxence Roy
8,753 Points
Posted by Maxence Roy
Maxence Roy
8,753 Points

Can't select elements ?

I'm trying to select all the <a> elements in the <nav> section. I'm using this code and it's not working :

let navigationLinks = document.querySelectorAll('nav > a');

I also tried to append a class name of 'nav-link' to each <a> element, and then use this code :

let navigationLinks = document.querySelectorAll('.nav-link');

It's not working either. I'm a bit confused.

js/app.js 
let navigationLinks = document.querySelectorAll('ul > a');
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="nav-link selected">Portfolio</a></li>
          <li><a href="about.html" class="nav-link">About</a></li>
          <li><a href="contact.html" class="nav-link">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
231,046 Points
Steven Parker
Steven Parker
231,046 Points

Don't modify the HTML code for this challenge.

The point of the challenge is to select elements without changing the HTML code.

Now you said you were using 'nav > a' for your selector, but the included code shows 'ul > a'. The former would be closer to correct, but both have the same issue of using the direct child combinator (">") as the links are not direct children of the list element. But they are descendants of it, so a descendant selector would work (just a space between the tag names).

Nate Paul
Nate Paul
11,885 Points
Nate Paul
Nate Paul
11,885 Points

This worked for me

navigationLinks = document.querySelectorAll('nav a');

Steven Parker
Steven Parker
231,046 Points
Steven Parker
Steven Parker
231,046 Points

Yup, that's a descendant selector.