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What is the DOM?

Published on December 9, 2020
Lyn Muldrow

By Lyn Muldrow

Senior Developer Educator

What is the DOM?

The Document Object Model, usually shortened to the DOM, is a cross-platform, language-independent application programming interface for HTML and XML documents.

Frequently used by web browsers to parse and display website content, the DOM treats an HTML, XHTML, or XML document as a tree structure, where each node is an object representing a part of the document that can be manipulated programmatically. JavaScript is the client-side scripting language that connects to the DOM in an internet browser.

To learn more about the Document Object Model (DOM), visit our Introduction to the DOM tutorial.

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About the author

Lyn Muldrow
Lyn Muldrow
Author
Senior Developer Educator
See author profile

Software engineer, writer, and speaker who loves solving problems and educating the next generation.

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