HTMLElement

Baseline Widely available *

This feature is well established and works across many devices and browser versions. It’s been available across browsers since ⁨July 2015⁩.

* Some parts of this feature may have varying levels of support.

TheHTMLElement interface represents anyHTML element. Some elements directly implement this interface, while others implement it via an interface that inherits it.

Instance properties

Also inherits properties from its parent,Element.

HTMLElement.accessKey: A string representing the access key assigned to the element.
HTMLElement.accessKeyLabelRead only: Returns a string containing the element's assigned access key.
HTMLElement.anchorElementRead only Non-standard Experimental: Returns a reference to the element's anchor element, ornull if it doesn't have one.
HTMLElement.attributeStyleMapRead only: AStylePropertyMap representing the declarations of the element'sstyle attribute.
HTMLElement.autocapitalize: A string that represents the element's capitalization behavior for user input. Valid values are:none,off,on,characters,words,sentences.
HTMLElement.autofocus: A boolean value reflecting theautofocus HTML global attribute, which indicates whether the control should be focused when the page loads, or when dialog or popover become shown if specified in an element inside<dialog> elements or elements whose popover attribute is set.
HTMLElement.autocorrect: A boolean that represents whether or not text input by a user should be automatically corrected.This reflects theautocorrect HTML global attribute.
HTMLElement.contentEditable: A string, where a value oftrue means the element is editable and a value offalse means it isn't.
HTMLElement.datasetRead only: Returns aDOMStringMap with which script can read and write the element'scustom data attributes (data-*).
HTMLElement.dir: A string, reflecting thedir global attribute, representing the directionality of the element. Possible values are"ltr","rtl", and"auto".
HTMLElement.draggable: A boolean value indicating if the element can be dragged.
HTMLElement.editContextExperimental: Returns the EditContext associated with the element, ornull if there isn't one.
HTMLElement.enterKeyHint: A string defining what action label (or icon) to present for the enter key on virtual keyboards.
HTMLElement.hidden: A string or boolean value reflecting the value of the element'shidden attribute.
HTMLElement.inert: A boolean value indicating whether the user agent must act as though the given node is absent for the purposes of user interaction events, in-page text searches ("find in page"), and text selection.
HTMLElement.innerText: Represents the rendered text content of a node and its descendants.As a getter, it approximates the text the user would get if they highlighted the contents of the element with the cursor and then copied it to the clipboard.As a setter, it replaces the content inside the selected element, converting any line breaks into<br> elements.
HTMLElement.inputMode: A string value reflecting the value of the element'sinputmode attribute.
HTMLElement.isContentEditableRead only: Returns a boolean value indicating whether or not the content of the element can be edited.
HTMLElement.lang: A string representing the language of an element's attributes, text, and element contents.
HTMLElement.nonce: Returns the cryptographic number used once that is used by Content Security Policy to determine whether a given fetch will be allowed to proceed.
HTMLElement.offsetHeightRead only: Returns adouble containing the height of an element, relative to the layout.
HTMLElement.offsetLeftRead only: Returns adouble, the distance from this element's left border to itsoffsetParent's left border.
HTMLElement.offsetParentRead only: AnElement that is the element from which all offset calculations are currently computed.
HTMLElement.offsetTopRead only: Returns adouble, the distance from this element's top border to itsoffsetParent's top border.
HTMLElement.offsetWidthRead only: Returns adouble containing the width of an element, relative to the layout.
HTMLElement.outerText: Represents the rendered text content of a node and its descendants.As a getter, it is the same asHTMLElement.innerText (it represents the rendered text content of an element and its descendants).As a setter, it replaces the selected node and its contents with the given value, converting any line breaks into<br> elements.
HTMLElement.popover: Gets and sets an element's popover state via JavaScript ("auto","hint", or"manual"), and can be used for feature detection. Reflects the value of thepopover global HTML attribute.
HTMLElement.spellcheck: A boolean value that controls thespell-checking hint. It is available on all HTML elements, though it doesn't affect all of them.
HTMLElement.style: ACSSStyleDeclaration representing the declarations of the element'sstyle attribute.
HTMLElement.tabIndex: Along representing the position of the element in the tabbing order.
HTMLElement.title: A string containing the text that appears in a popup box when mouse is over the element.
HTMLElement.translate: A boolean value representing the translation.
HTMLElement.virtualKeyboardPolicyExperimental: A string indicating the on-screen virtual keyboard behavior on devices such as tablets, mobile phones, or other devices where a hardware keyboard may not be available, if the element's content is editable (for example, it is an <input> or<textarea> element, or an element with thecontenteditable attribute set).
HTMLElement.writingSuggestions: A string indicating if browser-provided writing suggestions should be enabled under the scope of the element or not.

Instance methods

Also inherits methods from its parent,Element.

HTMLElement.attachInternals(): Returns anElementInternals object, and enables a custom element to participate in HTML forms.
HTMLElement.blur(): Removes keyboard focus from the currently focused element.
HTMLElement.click(): Sends a mouse click event to the element.
HTMLElement.focus(): Makes the element the current keyboard focus.
HTMLElement.hidePopover(): Hides a popover element by removing it from thetop layer and styling it withdisplay: none.
HTMLElement.showPopover(): Shows a popover element by adding it to thetop layer and removingdisplay: none; from its styles.
HTMLElement.togglePopover(): Toggles a popover element between the hidden and showing states.

Events

Listen to these events usingaddEventListener() or by assigning an event listener to theoneventname property of this interface.

Also, inherits events from its parent,Element.

change: Fired when thevalue of an<input>,<select>, or<textarea> element has been changed and committed by the user. Unlike theinput event, thechange event is not necessarily fired for each alteration to an element'svalue.
command: Fires on an element that is controlled via abutton with validcommandForElement andcommand values, whenever the button is interacted with (e.g., it is clicked).
error: Fired when a resource failed to load, or can't be used.
load: Fires for elements containing a resource when the resource has successfully loaded.

Drag & drop events

drag: This event is fired when an element or text selection is being dragged.
dragend: This event is fired when a drag operation is being ended (by releasing a mouse button or hitting the escape key).
dragenter: This event is fired when a dragged element or text selection enters a valid drop target.
dragleave: This event is fired when a dragged element or text selection leaves a valid drop target.
dragover: This event is fired continuously when an element or text selection is being dragged and the mouse pointer is over a valid drop target (every 50 ms WHEN mouse is not moving ELSE much faster between 5 ms (slow movement) and 1ms (fast movement) approximately. This firing pattern is different thanmouseover ).
dragstart: This event is fired when the user starts dragging an element or text selection.
drop: This event is fired when an element or text selection is dropped on a valid drop target.

Toggle events

beforetoggle: Fired when the element is apopover or<dialog>, before it is hidden or shown.
toggle: Fired when the element is apopover,<dialog>, or<details> element, just after it is hidden or shown.