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JavaScript jQuery Basics (2014) Creating a Simple Lightbox Perform: Part 3

Igor Kałużny
Igor Kałużny
4,337 Points
Posted by Igor Kałużny
Igor Kałużny
4,337 Points

$image.attr

Why do we have to do this:

 var imageLocation = $(this).attr("href");
  $image.attr("src", imageLocation);

instead of this:

  $image.attr("src", "href");

I know that it probably won't work, but can smn explain the logic to me please?

2 Answers

Stephan Olsen
Stephan Olsen
6,650 Points
Stephan Olsen
Stephan Olsen
6,650 Points

Your example wouldn't work. If you wanted to shorten it down to one line, it would look like this:

  $image.attr("src", $(this).attr("href"));

It's perfectly valid code, but it is much harder to read. It's good practice to break down your code in smaller pieces for more readability. This makes the code much easier to maintain when going back and looking at old code.

Christopher Debove
PLUS
Christopher Debove
Courses Plus Student 18,373 Points
Christopher Debove
Christopher Debove
Courses Plus Student 18,373 Points

Pointing your solution

$image.attr("src", "href");

This line of code would set the src attribute at the value "href", not what you want. Stephan Olsen gave you a good method if you want to shorten your code if that's what you want.