JavaScript Document.Head is Null

Question

Getting an error when running the following code in IE 8, but not in other browsers: 'document.head' is null or not an object Here is my code: ``` ```

Accepted Answer

`document.head` fails because IE8 doesn't support it (no version of IE before 9); it's a new feature of HTML5. Instead, you could use the following in any browser:

```
var head = document.head || document.getElementsByTagName("head")[0];
```

If `document.head` is defined (available), it will short-circuit and use that immediately. If it's not defined, it will use the `document.getElementsByTagName` part, which will find it in any browser.

Unless you want to have this kind of `this || that` throughout your code, it's safe and good enough to just always use `document.getElementsByTagName("head")[0]`.

References:

- `document.head` - https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/document.head (scroll to the bottom for browser support)

- `document.getElementsByTagName` - https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/document.getElementsByTagName

JavaScript Document.Head is Null

Solution

Problem