Fix example in Web/API/Document_Object_Model

[whxvd]

The last example (Displaying event object properties) is meant to "to display all the properties of the onload event object and their values". But the example did not register the appropriate event handler; instead it had an erroneous last line.

[github-actions]

Preview URLs (1 page)

• /en-US/docs/Web/API/Document_Object_Model

(comment last updated: 2026-03-07 07:37:20)

[Josh-Cena]

Suggested change

	onload = showEventProperties;
	window.addEventListener("click", showEventProperties);

[whxvd]

Ok, that would introduce three changes:

1. window.addEventListener instead of the onload property. That is fine. After all, addEventListener is the recommended way. I had used the onload property, because currently many pages on MDN use them, and I had thought that for brevity or in examples, event properties may be preferred.

2. Make the global object explicit (window.). That's fine, too.

3. "click" instead of "load". That would not fit the preceding text that explains the example. IMO, that text and the load event are fine. I am in favor of sticking to the load event.

[Josh-Cena]

3. "click" instead of "load". That would not fit the preceding text that explains the example. IMO, that text and the load event are fine. I am in favor of sticking to the load event.

I prefer click because it contains non-trivial properties such as coordinates, plus it can fire many times. load events are also generally frowned upon in MDN because code examples used to abuse them while top-level code works just fine, so sometimes I go around and remove unnecessary load event listeners. It's best if we can avoid them where we can to make the auditing easier. You can update the preceding text.

[whxvd]

Ok, now the click event is used.

[whxvd]

The text had a "double domxref" to Window.load_event and event. I found that a bit strange and switched to the simplest form. The documentation for Event is easily reacheble from Element.click_event. It does not need an extra link.