Document Object Model

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Definition

The Document Object Model (DOM) is a model "in which the document or Web page contains objects (elements, links, etc.) that can be manipulated. So you will be able to delete, add, or change an element (as long as the document is still valid, of course!), change its content or add, delete or change an attribute. You will be able to get a list of all the H1 elements in the document, or all the elements with an attribute CLASS="foo". (W3C DOM FAQ, retrieved 27 March 2008)

More technically speaking the DOM is a series of API's that provide “a standardized, versatile view of a document's contents. By supporting the DOM API, a program not only allows its data to be manipulated by other routines, but does so in a way that allows those manipulations to be reused with other DOMs, or to take advantage of solutions already written for those DOMs. This interoperability also allows programmers who invest in learning to use the DOM calls to apply those skills to other DOMs.” (W3C DOM FAQ, retrieved 27 March 2008)

See also: JavaScript links, XHTML, AJAX etc.

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