Html – How to make an anchor tag refer to nothing

htmljquery

I use jQuery, I need to make some anchor tags perform no action.

I usually write it like this:

<a href="#">link</a>

However this refers to the top of the page!

Best Solution

There are a few less than perfect solutions:

1. Link to a fake anchor

<a href="#">

Problem: clicking the link jumps back to the top of the page

2. Using a tag other than 'a'

Use a span tag and use the jquery to handle the click

Problem: breaks keyboard navigation, have to manually change the hover cursor

3. Link to a javascript void function

<a href="javascript:void(0);">
<a href="javascript:;">

Problem: breaks when linking images in IE

Solution

Since these all have their problems, the solution I've settled on is to link to a fake anchor, and then return false from the onClick method:

<a href="#" onClick="return false;">

Not the most concise of solutions, but it solves all the problems with the above methods.

Related Solutions

Javascript – How to check if an element is hidden in jQuery

Since the question refers to a single element, this code might be more suitable:

// Checks CSS content for display:[none|block], ignores visibility:[true|false]
$(element).is(":visible");

// The same works with hidden
$(element).is(":hidden");

It is the same as twernt's suggestion, but applied to a single element; and it matches the algorithm recommended in the jQuery FAQ.

We use jQuery's is() to check the selected element with another element, selector or any jQuery object. This method traverses along the DOM elements to find a match, which satisfies the passed parameter. It will return true if there is a match, otherwise return false.

Jquery – How to format a Microsoft JSON date

eval() is not necessary. This will work fine:

var date = new Date(parseInt(jsonDate.substr(6)));

The substr() function takes out the /Date( part, and the parseInt() function gets the integer and ignores the )/ at the end. The resulting number is passed into the Date constructor.

I have intentionally left out the radix (the 2nd argument to parseInt); see my comment below.

Also, I completely agree with Rory's comment: ISO-8601 dates are preferred over this old format - so this format generally shouldn't be used for new development.

For ISO-8601 formatted JSON dates, just pass the string into the Date constructor:

var date = new Date(jsonDate); //no ugly parsing needed; full timezone support

Best Solution

Related Solutions

Javascript – How to check if an element is hidden in jQuery

Jquery – How to format a Microsoft JSON date

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