The W3C Document Object Model (DOM) is a platform and language neutral interface that allow programs and scripts to dynamically access and update the content,style and structure of a document."

The W3C DOM provides a standard set of objects for representing HTML and XML documents, and a standard interface for accessing and manipulating them.

The DOM is separated into different parts (Core,XML and HTML) and also have different levels (DOM Level 1/2/3):

• Core DOM - define a standard set of objects for any structured documents
• XML DOM - defines a standard set of objects for XML documents only.
• HTML DOM - define a standard set of objects for HTML documents only

You can read more about the W3C DOM levels/specifications in our W3C tutorial

• The XML DOM is the Document Object Model for XML only.
• The XML DOM is language- and platform-independent
• The XML DOM define a standard set of objects for XML
• The XML DOM define a standard way to access XML documents
• The XML DOM define a standard way to manipulate XML documents
• The XML DOM is W3C standard

The DOM view XML documents as a tree-structure. All elements; their containing text and their attributes, can be accessed through the DOM tree. Their contents can be deleted or modified, and new elements can be created. The elements, their text, and their attributes are all known as nodes.

Before you goes to this tutorial you should have a basic understanding of the following:

• HTML / XHTML
• XML
• JavaScript

If you want to study these subjects first, find the tutorial on our Home page