HTML: The Living Standard

Developer's Edition — Last Updated 28 September 2020

1. 7.2 The Window object

7.2 The `Window` object

window . window Window/window Support in all current engines. FirefoxYesSafariYesChromeYes OperaYesEdgeYes Edge (Legacy)12+Internet Explorer? Firefox AndroidYesSafari iOSYesChrome AndroidYesWebView AndroidYesSamsung InternetYesOpera AndroidYes
window . frames Window/frames Support in all current engines. FirefoxYesSafariYesChromeYes OperaYesEdgeYes Edge (Legacy)12+Internet ExplorerYes Firefox AndroidYesSafari iOSYesChrome AndroidYesWebView AndroidYesSamsung InternetYesOpera AndroidYes
window . self Window/self Support in all current engines. FirefoxYesSafariYesChromeYes OperaYesEdgeYes Edge (Legacy)12+Internet ExplorerYes Firefox AndroidYesSafari iOSYesChrome AndroidYesWebView AndroidYesSamsung InternetYesOpera AndroidYes: These attributes all return window.
window . document Window/document Support in all current engines. FirefoxYesSafariYesChromeYes OperaYesEdgeYes Edge (Legacy)12+Internet ExplorerYes Firefox AndroidYesSafari iOSYesChrome AndroidYesWebView AndroidYesSamsung InternetYesOpera AndroidYes: Returns the Document associated with window.
document . defaultView Document/defaultView Support in all current engines. FirefoxYesSafariYesChrome1+ OperaYesEdge79+ Edge (Legacy)12+Internet Explorer9+ Firefox AndroidYesSafari iOSYesChrome AndroidYesWebView AndroidYesSamsung InternetYesOpera AndroidYes: Returns the Window object of the active document.

7.2.1 APIs for creating and navigating browsing contexts by name

window = window . open( [ url [, target [, features ] ] ] ) Window/open Support in all current engines. Firefox1+Safari1+Chrome1+ Opera3+Edge79+ Edge (Legacy)12+Internet Explorer4+ Firefox Android4+Safari iOS1+Chrome Android18+WebView Android1+Samsung Internet1.0+Opera Android10.1+

Opens a window to show url (defaults to about:blank), and returns it. The target argument gives the name of the new window. If a window exists with that name already, it is reused. The features argument can be used to influence the rendering of the new window.

window . name [ = value ] Window/name Support in all current engines. FirefoxYesSafariYesChromeYes OperaYesEdgeYes Edge (Legacy)12+Internet Explorer? Firefox AndroidYesSafari iOSYesChrome AndroidYesWebView AndroidYesSamsung InternetYesOpera AndroidYes

Returns the name of the window.

Can be set, to change the name.

window . close() Window/close Support in all current engines. Firefox1+Safari1+Chrome1+ Opera3+Edge79+ Edge (Legacy)12+Internet Explorer4+ Firefox Android4+Safari iOS1+Chrome Android18+WebView Android1+Samsung Internet1.0+Opera Android10.1+

Closes the window.

window . closed

Returns true if the window has been closed, false otherwise.

window . stop() Window/stop Support in all current engines. FirefoxYesSafariYesChromeYes OperaYesEdgeYes Edge (Legacy)14+Internet ExplorerNo Firefox AndroidYesSafari iOSYesChrome AndroidYesWebView AndroidYesSamsung InternetYesOpera AndroidYes

Cancels the document load.

7.2.2 Accessing other browsing contexts

window . length Window/length Support in all current engines. FirefoxYesSafariYesChromeYes OperaYesEdgeYes Edge (Legacy)12+Internet Explorer? Firefox AndroidYesSafari iOSYesChrome AndroidYesWebView AndroidYesSamsung InternetYesOpera AndroidYes: Returns the number of document-tree child browsing contexts.
window[index]: Returns the indicated document-tree child browsing context.

7.2.3 Named access on the `Window` object

window[name]

Returns the indicated element or collection of elements.

As a general rule, relying on this will lead to brittle code. Which IDs end up mapping to this API can vary over time, as new features are added to the web platform, for example. Instead of this, use document.getElementById() or document.querySelector().

7.2.4 Closing browsing contexts

To close a browsing context browsingContext, run these steps:

Prompt to unload browsingContext's active document. If the user refused to allow the document to be unloaded, then return.
Unload browsingContext's active document.
Remove browsingContext from the user interface (e.g., close or hide its tab in a tabbed browser).
Discard browsingContext.

User agents should offer users the ability to arbitrarily close any top-level browsing context.

7.2.5 Browser interface elements

To allow web pages to integrate with web browsers, certain web browser interface elements are exposed in a limited way to scripts in web pages.

Each interface element is represented by a BarProp object:

window . locationbar . visible Window/locationbar Support in all current engines. FirefoxYesSafariYesChromeYes OperaYesEdgeYes Edge (Legacy)12+Internet ExplorerNo Firefox AndroidYesSafari iOSYesChrome AndroidYesWebView AndroidYesSamsung InternetYesOpera AndroidYes: Returns true if the location bar is visible; otherwise, returns false.
window . menubar . visible Window/menubar Support in all current engines. FirefoxYesSafariYesChromeYes OperaYesEdgeYes Edge (Legacy)12+Internet ExplorerNo Firefox AndroidYesSafari iOSYesChrome AndroidYesWebView AndroidYesSamsung InternetYesOpera AndroidYes: Returns true if the menu bar is visible; otherwise, returns false.
window . personalbar . visible Window/personalbar Support in all current engines. FirefoxYesSafariYesChromeYes OperaYesEdgeYes Edge (Legacy)12+Internet ExplorerNo Firefox AndroidYesSafari iOSYesChrome AndroidYesWebView AndroidYesSamsung InternetYesOpera AndroidYes: Returns true if the personal bar is visible; otherwise, returns false.
window . scrollbars . visible Window/scrollbars Support in all current engines. FirefoxYesSafariYesChromeYes OperaYesEdgeYes Edge (Legacy)12+Internet ExplorerNo Firefox AndroidYesSafari iOSYesChrome AndroidYesWebView AndroidYesSamsung InternetYesOpera AndroidYes: Returns true if the scrollbars are visible; otherwise, returns false.
window . statusbar . visible Window/statusbar Support in all current engines. FirefoxYesSafariYesChromeYes OperaYesEdgeYes Edge (Legacy)12+Internet ExplorerNo Firefox AndroidYesSafari iOSYesChrome AndroidYesWebView AndroidYesSamsung InternetYesOpera AndroidYes: Returns true if the status bar is visible; otherwise, returns false.
window . toolbar . visible Window/toolbar Support in all current engines. FirefoxYesSafariYesChromeYes OperaYesEdgeYes Edge (Legacy)12+Internet ExplorerNo Firefox AndroidYesSafari iOSYesChrome AndroidYesWebView AndroidYesSamsung InternetYesOpera AndroidYes: Returns true if the toolbar is visible; otherwise, returns false.

7.2 The Window object