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 Practice Selecting Elements

Jesse Thompson
Jesse Thompson
10,684 Points
Posted by Jesse Thompson
Jesse Thompson
10,684 Points

Why isnt it selecting the links when I use querySelectorAll?

This is the code I am using for the first step of the challenge

Ive tried a couple of ways but for some reason I just cant hack it.

js/app.js 
let navigationLinks = document.getElementsByTagName('nav').querySelectorAll("ul > li");
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="selected">Portfolio</a></li>
          <li><a href="about.html">About</a></li>
          <li><a href="contact.html">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
231,269 Points
Steven Parker
Steven Parker
231,269 Points

There's a few issues here:

  • getElementsByTagName returns a collection, not a single element
  • you can't use querySelectorAll on a collection
  • the instructions say to target links (a), but your final target is list items (li).

You can fix those issues and pass, but there's a much simpler solution possible using only querySelectorAll directly on the document (with a descendant selector argument).

Jesse Thompson
Jesse Thompson
10,684 Points
Jesse Thompson
Jesse Thompson
10,684 Points

Yes I ended up doing this document.querySelectorAll("nav > ul > li > a"); I reread it and realized It was referencing the links directly.

thankyou for the feedback.

Also to clarify. When you say "you can't use querySelectorAll on a collection" that means that I cannot do something like getElementsByTagName('ul').querySelectorAll('li'); because Elements means its getting a collection? Or do you mean I cant use querySelectorAll to select collections?

Steven Parker
Steven Parker
231,269 Points
Steven Parker
Steven Parker
231,269 Points

You had it right the first time. Since getElementsByTagName returns a collection, you can't use querySelectorAll on it directly. But you could select an element from it ("...getElementsByTagName('ul')[0].querySelectorAll('li')").

And "nav > ul > li > a" works in this case, bit it's a bit overly specific. The phrase "all links in the nav element" translates directly into "nav a"

Jesse Thompson
Jesse Thompson
10,684 Points
Jesse Thompson
Jesse Thompson
10,684 Points

gotchu. makes a lot of sense. Thanks a bunch Steven.