> It is impossible to know the OP was just a bit lazy or > doesn't fully understand the concepts.
The latter...I'm the OP and I can promise you that I don't fully understand all the concepts. :o) Anyway, back to the DOM & HTML... If, as you state, "there is no HTML in the DOM," from a "technical" standpoint, then I suppose it's technically inaccurate to speak of "traversing the DOM", since what is really being done is "traversing of the HTML elements." Would that be a fair statement? Rick -----Original Message----- From: jquery-en@googlegroups.com [mailto:jquery...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of RobG Sent: Thursday, September 03, 2009 1:43 AM To: jQuery (English) Subject: [jQuery] Re: Is this "quirk" of jQuery still true? On Sep 3, 1:25 pm, "Rick Faircloth" <r...@whitestonemedia.com> wrote: > Thanks for the explanation, Rob. > > I'll have to check into setAttribute...am I correct in assuming > that "setAttribute" is a Javascript function, but not jQuery? setAttribute is a DOM Core method of the Element interface[1]. jQuery wraps a great many such methods, but not this one. There is rarely any need to use it for HTML documents, particularly as it is broken in parts in IE. There is also little use for it as setting the DOM property directly is simpler (and likely much faster as it doesn't require a method call). setAttribute may handy for XML documents though. > Also, your statement, "There is no 'HTML in the DOM'. HTML is used > to create a DOM." seems like semantics. Yes, it is, but in a technical group I think it is important. It is impossible to know the OP was just a bit lazy or doesn't fully understand the concepts. Better to be sure than make a wrong assumption. > So is it correct to say that a DOM contains no HTML? Yes. HTML is a markup language, it is interpreted by browsers to generate a DOM. Javascript interacts with the DOM, not the markup. An analogy is that a plan is used to build a house. Instructions to tradesmen to change the design might be reflected in the house, but aren't automatically reflected in the plans unless you also tell the draughtsman to change them. innerHTML and other DOM inspection tools are like an "as built" plan of part of the house. 1. <URL: http://www.w3.org/TR/DOM-Level-2-Core/core.html#ID-F68F082 > -- Rob