Menu
OK I have full expectation of going down in flames for asking something stupid (or at least duplicate), but in the attached snippet, why do I have to use window.getComputedStyle to access styles applied by CSS? I was under the impression that the .style field would at least reflect those styles initially applied by CSS, and/or manually changed since then.
If not, what are the exact rules governing which properties are reflected (and when) in an element's .style field?
setTimeout(() => {
console.log("the bckg color:", reddish.style.backgroundColor);
console.log("the width:", reddish.style.width);
console.log("from a computed style:", window.getComputedStyle(reddish).backgroundColor);
console.log("from a computed style:", window.getComputedStyle(reddish).width);
}, 100);#reddish {
background-color: #fa5;
width: 100px;
height: 100px;
}<html>
<body>
<div id="reddish"></div>
</body>
</html>
617
This usually happens when the browser serves a cached version of your CSS file. To invalidate the cache and serve the latest version of your CSS file, you can perform a hard reload on the browser.
The initial value of a CSS property is its default value, as listed in its definition table in the specification. The usage of the initial value depends on whether a property is inherited or not: For inherited properties, the initial value is used on the root element only, as long as no specified value is supplied.
The HTMLElement.style property is not useful for completely learning about the styles applied on the element, since it represents only the CSS declarations set in the element's inline style attribute, not those that come from style rules elsewhere, such as style rules in the section, or external style sheets. To get the values of all CSS properties for an element you should use Window.getComputedStyle() instead.
HTMLElement.style:
The HTMLElement.style property is used to get as well as set the inline style of an element.
console.log(document.getElementById("para").style.fontSize); // will work since the "font-size" property is set inline
console.log(document.getElementById("para").style.color); // will not work since the "color" property is not set inline#para {color: rgb(34, 34, 34);}<p id="para" style="font-size: 20px;">Hello</p>Window.getComputedStyle():
The getComputedStyle() method however, returns an object containing the values of all CSS properties of an element, after applying active stylesheets and resolving any basic computation those values may contain thus returning the css properties from both inline style declarations as well as from external style-sheets.
console.log(window.getComputedStyle(document.getElementById("para")).fontSize); // will work
console.log(window.getComputedStyle(document.getElementById("para")).color); // will work#para {
color: rgb(34, 34, 34);
}<p id="para" style="font-size: 20px;">Hello</p>HTMLElement.style is for the inline style of an element. It does not take into account CSS whatsoever. This is basically just directly setting or getting a property on the element object.
<div style="color: red;">Hello</div>
Window.getComputedStyle() takes into account inline styles and CSS, after resolving cascading, inheritance, etc. It's basically the "final" actual style value used to render the element on the page.
// CSS
#blue-text {
color: blue !important;
}
// HTML
<div style="color: red;" id="blue-text">Hello</div>
// JS
const myElement = document.querySelector("#blue-text");
myElement.style.color; // "red" because that's the inline style
window.getComputedStyle(myElement).color; // "rgb(0, 0, 255)" because CSS !important overrides inline style
If you love us? You can donate to us via Paypal or buy me a coffee so we can maintain and grow! Thank you!
Donate Us With
