Document object model
Example of DOM hierarchy in an HTML document
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| First published | October 1, 1998 |
|---|---|
| Latest version | DOM4 November 19, 2015 |
| Organization | W3C, WHATWG |
| Base standards |
WHATWG DOM Living Standard W3C DOM4 |
| Abbreviation | DOM |
The Document Object Model (DOM) is a cross-platform and language-independent application programming interface that treats an HTML, XHTML, or XML document as a tree structure wherein each node is an object representing a part of the document. The objects can be manipulated programmatically and any visible changes occurring as a result may then be reflected in the display of the document.
Principal standardization of DOM was handled by the W3C, which last developed a recommendation in 2004. WHATWG took over development of the standard, publishing it as a living document. The W3C now publishes stable snapshots of the WHATWG standard.
The history of the Document Object Model is intertwined with the history of the "browser wars" of the late 1990s between Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer, as well as with that of JavaScript and JScript, the first scripting languages to be widely implemented in the layout engines of web browsers.
JavaScript was released by Netscape Communications in 1995 within Netscape Navigator 2.0. Netscape's competitor, Microsoft, released Internet Explorer 3.0 the following year with a port of JavaScript called JScript. JavaScript and JScript let web developers create web pages with client-side interactivity. The limited facilities for detecting user-generated events and modifying the HTML document in the first generation of these languages eventually became known as "DOM Level 0" or "Legacy DOM." No independent standard was developed for DOM Level 0, but it was partly described in the specification of HTML 4.
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