From W3S, regarding what's a node: "The document itself is a document node" ( Source ). The appendChild() method is said to work like this: node1.appendChild(node2). If I am understanding nodes correct, shouldn't I be able to append something into the document body? I have tried document.appendChild(...) and window.appendChild(...), it didn't work. Right now I have to create a sort of frame and then append into that ( See example snippet ).

How can I append a node into the document as a whole? Instead of, as in the example below, append into a new div?

function append(){
  box = document.createElement("div");
  box.style.backgroundColor = "#F00";
  box.style.width = "50px"; 
  box.style.height = "50px"; 
  document.getElementById("frame").appendChild(box); 
}

<div id="frame" style="position:absolute; top:90px; width:100px; height:100px;border-style:solid; border-width:2px; border-color:#000;"></div>

<input type=button value="Append" onClick="append()">

From W3S, regarding what's a node: "The document itself is a document node" ( Source ). The appendChild() method is said to work like this: node1.appendChild(node2). If I am understanding nodes correct, shouldn't I be able to append something into the document body? I have tried document.appendChild(...) and window.appendChild(...), it didn't work. Right now I have to create a sort of frame and then append into that ( See example snippet ).

How can I append a node into the document as a whole? Instead of, as in the example below, append into a new div?

function append(){
  box = document.createElement("div");
  box.style.backgroundColor = "#F00";
  box.style.width = "50px"; 
  box.style.height = "50px"; 
  document.getElementById("frame").appendChild(box); 
}

<div id="frame" style="position:absolute; top:90px; width:100px; height:100px;border-style:solid; border-width:2px; border-color:#000;"></div>

<input type=button value="Append" onClick="append()">

• javascript
• html
• appendchild

Share Improve this question Follow edited Apr 13, 2016 at 16:36 JakeTheSnake asked Apr 13, 2016 at 16:33 JakeTheSnakeJakeTheSnake 2,46433 gold badges1616 silver badges2727 bronze badges 2

• 2 What would it mean to append something to the "document as a whole"? I mean, there are two top-level things that would make sense to append to (head, body). – Dave Newton Commented Apr 13, 2016 at 16:35
• Trying to append a div to the document would result in invalid HTML. – j08691 Commented Apr 13, 2016 at 16:37

Add a ment  | 

1 Answer 1

Sorted by: Reset to default 5

Instead of appending it to the document, you will need to append it to the body.

The issue with appending it to the document, is that only one element can be on the document at a time, and it is the body element currently.

function append(){
  box = document.createElement("div");
  box.style.backgroundColor = "#F00";
  box.style.width = "50px"; 
  box.style.height = "50px"; 
  document.body.appendChild(box); 
}

<div id="frame" style="position:absolute; top:50px; width:100px; height:100px;border-style:solid; border-width:2px; border-color:#000;"></div>

<input type=button value="Append" onClick="append()">