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 jQuery Basics (2014) Creating a Simple Lightbox Perform: Part 4

Posted by Fiverr Dev
Fiverr Dev
5,909 Points

Why can't I just write var captiontext= $("img").attr("alt");

Any reason why I cant just write var captiontext= $("img").attr("alt"); instead of var captiontext= $("this").children("img").attr("alt");

1 Answer

Sean T. Unwin
Sean T. Unwin
28,690 Points
Sean T. Unwin
Sean T. Unwin
28,690 Points

Because then you would be getting all the img's alt attributes in the document. You would end up with an array likely as well, instead of a string. Using $('this') creates a context to only get it's child img (there is only 1) .