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JavaScript JavaScript and the DOM (Retiring) Responding to User Interaction Event Delegation

Joseph Frazer
Joseph Frazer
5,404 Points

I am super confused with event bubbling... any help?

With event bubbling I am confused with what it is and how to get rid of it or whatever.

1 Answer

Steven Parker
Steven Parker
231,008 Points

:point_right: Event bubbling is simply triggering events up the DOM tree in reverse nesting order.

For example. let's consider a mouse click on a button:

  1. The button becomes the "event target"
  2. If a click event handler is set for that object, the event is triggered
  3. If the handler does not stop propagation (bubbling), the event "bubbles up" to the parent object.
  4. If the current (parent) object is not the document itself, go back and repeat from step 2

As mentioned in step 3, you can stop bubbling by calling "stopPropagation()" on the event object in the handler code.

I found this one-page event tuturial that includes some nice graphics and demos that may also help make the process clearer.