Document Object Model (DOM)

What's new?

• 20090106: The WebApps WG Drives DOM Specifications. The W3C Web Applications Working Group has taken over responsibility for the Document Object Model specifications, including a new revision of DOM Level 3 Events, a new DOM Core specification, and potentially any errata on older DOM specifications. Discussion can be directed to either the public-webapps@w3.org or the www-dom@w3.org mailing lists.
• 20080122: The Document Object Model Activity is closed. The Document Object Model Working Group was closed in the Spring of 2004, after the completion of the DOM Level 3 Recommendations. Several W3C Working Groups have since taken the lead in maintaining and continuing to develop standard APIs for the Web since then; HTML, SVG, CSS, or WebAPI being among them. W3C will continue to develop APIs in various Working Groups. Learn more about the achievements from the DOM Activity page. Got an idea on how to use this page? Send an email to Philippe.

W3C's DOM news are also available as a RSS feed .

What is the Document Object Model?

The Document Object Model is a platform- and language-neutral interface that will allow programs and scripts to dynamically access and update the content, structure and style of documents. The document can be further processed and the results of that processing can be incorporated back into the presented page. This is an overview of DOM-related materials here at W3C and around the web.

Why the Document Object Model?

"Dynamic HTML" is a term used by some vendors to describe the combination of HTML, style sheets and scripts that allows documents to be animated. The W3C has received several submissions from members companies on the way in which the object model of HTML documents should be exposed to scripts. These submissions do not propose any new HTML tags or style sheet technology. The W3C DOM Activity is working hard to make sure interoperable and scripting-language neutral solutions are agreed upon.

W3C Activity Statement on the Document Object Model

The W3C DOM Activity statement is the W3C statement of direction concerning the evolution of the Document Object Model. Look here for information about the goals of the work and the current situation.

Patent disclosures relevant to this Activity may be found on the DOM Working Group's patent disclosure page.

Public Release of Specifications

Looking for the specifications? See the DOM Technical Reports section. It contains all DOM Level 1, 2, and 3 drafts including the DOM requirements document.

Questions, comments, and suggestions about the DOM

The W3C DOM Interest Group has a public mailing list.

DOM Conformance Test Suites

The W3C and NIST launched on March 16th 2001 a coordination to develop the DOM Test Suites. This work is done in the public domain. See the DOM Conformance Test Suites section to participate!

Related Resources

Some resources related to the DOM are to be found at

• What does your user agent claim to support? Test the DOM modules support claims of your user agent!
• Robin Cover's DOM pages
• the Open Directory Project W3C DOM pages

The W3C only defines normative bindings for Java and ECMAScript, however we also reference known non-W3C DOM Bindings for languages other than Java or ECMAScript. If you've done one, let us know.

Some related DOM-based APIs have been developed as well in the specifications for

• Mathematical Markup Language
• Scalable Vector Graphics