Welcome to the Treehouse Community

Want to collaborate on code errors? Have bugs you need feedback on? Looking for an extra set of eyes on your latest project? Get support with fellow developers, designers, and programmers of all backgrounds and skill levels here with the Treehouse Community! While you're at it, check out some resources Treehouse students have shared here.

Looking to learn something new?

Treehouse offers a seven day free trial for new students. Get access to thousands of hours of content and join thousands of Treehouse students and alumni in the community today.

Start your free trial

JavaScript JavaScript and the DOM (Retiring) Getting a Handle on the DOM Selecting Elements with the Same Class Name

Posted by Matt Roberts
Matt Roberts
5,173 Points

The elements are not changing purple or red respectively and I don't know why

I'm not seeing any errors in the console so hard to debug

app.js

const myList = document.getElementsByTagName('li');

for (let i = 0; i < myList.length; i += 1) { myList[i].style.color = 'purple'; }

const errorNotPurple = document.getElementsByClassName('error-not-purple');

for (let i = 0; i < errorNotPurple.length; i += 1) { errorNotPurple[i].style.color = 'red'; }

html <!DOCTYPE html> <html> <head> <title>JavaScript and the DOM</title> <link rel="stylesheet" href="css/style.css"> </head> <body> <h1 id="myHeading">JavaScript and the DOM</h1> <p>Making a web page interactive</p> <input type="text" id="myTextInput1"> <button id="myButton">change headline colour</button> <input type="text" id="myTextInput2"> <button id="myButton2">change button colour</button> <script src="app.js"></script> <p>Things that are purple:</p> <ul> <li>grapes</li> <li class="error-not-purple"> oranges</li> <li>amethyst</li> <li class="error-not-purple"> firetruck</li> <li>lavender</li> <li class="error-not-purple"> computer </li> <li>plums</li> </ul>

</body> </html>

4 Answers

Carlos Chavez
Carlos Chavez
5,691 Points
Carlos Chavez
Carlos Chavez
5,691 Points

I found that the position of your script element was not at the end of you html file. This also caused problem for me before.

<!DOCTYPE html> 
<html> 
  <head> 
    <title>JavaScript and the DOM</title> 
    <link rel="stylesheet" href="css/style.css"> 
  </head> 
  <body> 
    <h1 id="myHeading">JavaScript and the DOM</h1> 
    <p>Making a web page interactive</p> 
    <input type="text" id="myTextInput1"> 
    <button id="myButton">change headline colour</button> 
    <input type="text" id="myTextInput2"> 
    <button id="myButton2">change button colour</button> 

    <p>Things that are purple:</p> 
    <ul> 
      <li>grapes</li> 
      <li class="error-not-purple"> oranges</li> 
      <li>amethyst</li> <li class="error-not-purple"> firetruck</li> 
      <li>lavender</li> <li class="error-not-purple"> computer </li> 
      <li>plums</li> 
    </ul>
    <script src="app.js"></script>
  </body> 
</html>

Here's another thread about it: https://teamtreehouse.com/community/how-does-the-order-in-which-you-place-your-html-elements-matter

Alzubair Alshehhi
Alzubair Alshehhi
2,792 Points
Alzubair Alshehhi
Alzubair Alshehhi
2,792 Points

I have copied your code exactly and it worked, maybe you didn't save the code before preview?

HTML

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <title>JavaScript and the DOM</title>
    <link rel="stylesheet" href="css/style.css">
  </head>
  <body>
    <h1 id="myHeading">JavaScript and the DOM</h1>
    <p>Making a web page interactive</p>
    <p>Things that are purple:</p>
    <ul>
        <li>grapes</li>
      <li class="error-not-purple"> oranges</li>
        <li>amethyst</li>
      <li class="error-not-purple"> firetruck</li>
        <li>lavender</li>
      <li class="error-not-purple"> computer </li>
        <li>plums</li>
    </ul>
    <script src="app.js"></script>
  </body>
</html>

app.js

const myList = document.getElementsByTagName('li');

for (let i = 0; i < myList.length; i += 1) {
  myList[i].style.color = 'purple';
}

const errorNotPurple = document.getElementsByClassName('error-not-purple');

for (let i = 0; i < errorNotPurple.length; i += 1) {
  errorNotPurple[i].style.color = 'red'; 
}
Steven Parker
Steven Parker
231,268 Points
Steven Parker
Steven Parker
231,268 Points

Unless I'm overlooking something because the code was posted without formatting, this works fine as-is.

A better way to share code and make your issue easy to replicate is to make a snapshot of your workspace and post the link to it here.

Harinder Singh
Harinder Singh
4,214 Points
Harinder Singh
Harinder Singh
4,214 Points

I fixed it by changing all

<li class="error-not-purple">

to

<li class="errorNotPurple">

so it matches the way we wrote it in app.js