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Editorial Team
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Asked: 2026-05-13T09:59:17+00:00

document.getElementById doesn’t seem to work across all browsers (I mean some old ones) and

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document.getElementById doesn’t seem to work across all browsers (I mean some old ones) and I am sure there are developers who are not aware of this.

What solutions would you suggest to make it cross-browser?

Thanks

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    If document.getElementById doesn’t work then either:

    • You’re doing it wrong (invalid HTML, trying to access names instead of IDs, etc)

    or

    • You’re working with Netscape 4.x and Internet Explorer 4.x

    There are three ways to deal with browsers of this era.

    • Tell people to upgrade. They are unmaintained, security hole ridden nightmares for user and author alike.
    • Build on stuff that works and make sure your JS checks for the existence of getElementById and friends before trying to use them ( if (!document.getElementById) { return false; /* Insufficient DOM to bother with JS here */ } )
    • Learn about document.all and document.layers
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