document.documentElement.nodeName

you would get HTML. Try it. You may also query the root's type:

document.documentElement.nodeType

You should get 1. Try it. There are three types:

• 1 = Tag (Examples: HTML, BODY, HEAD)
• 2 = Attribute (Examples: ID, NAME, BGCOLOR)
• 3 = Text (Free text between opening and closing tags. Example: text between <P> and </P>)

The node document.documentElement is the root of the document model. If you would query its first child:

document.documentElement.firstChild.nodeName

you would get the HEAD tag. Try it.

The code in this tip can be viewed by all DOM-supporting browsers such as IE 5+ and Netscape 6.

Learn more about the DOM in Columns 40, The DOM, Part I: Analysis, through Column 47, A DOM-Based Snakes Game, Part II.

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