Why I have ditched the QuerySelector

📰 Dev.to · Aad Pouw

Ditch the QuerySelector for more efficient DOM manipulation using native object keys

intermediate Published 11 Apr 2026
Action Steps
  1. Use document.activeElement to access the currently active element
  2. Utilize firstElementChild and lastElementChild to navigate the DOM tree
  3. Access child elements using the children property and its length
  4. Employ nextElementSibling and previousElementSibling to traverse the DOM
  5. Use parentElement to move up the DOM tree
Who Needs to Know This

Frontend developers and engineers can benefit from this approach to improve their code's performance and readability

Key Insight

💡 Native object keys can replace QuerySelector for more efficient DOM manipulation

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Ditch QuerySelector for native DOM manipulation!

Key Takeaways

Ditch the QuerySelector for more efficient DOM manipulation using native object keys

Full Article

Title: Why I have ditched the QuerySelector

URL Source: https://dev.to/aadswebdesign/why-i-have-ditched-the-queryselector-1km9

Published Time: 2026-04-11T15:14:38Z

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# Why I have ditched the QuerySelector - DEV Community
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Posted on Apr 11

# Why I have ditched the QuerySelector

[#javascript](https://dev.to/t/javascript)[#webdev](https://dev.to/t/webdev)[#beginners](https://dev.to/t/beginners)[#opinion](https://dev.to/t/opinion)

### [](https://dev.to/aadswebdesign/why-i-have-ditched-the-queryselector-1km9#why) Why?

* The _'document.querySelector()'_ has many downfalls.
* There are many articles on the web to read more about it!

* As I work the Javascript _OOP_ way, I don't need it.

### [](https://dev.to/aadswebdesign/why-i-have-ditched-the-queryselector-1km9#what-i-do-instead-and-what-i-want-to-share-here-is-this) What I do instead and what I want to share here is this:

Connecting to the _DOM_ directly.

What I do is making use of already available object keys in the dom tree:

* document.activeElement (in callbacks and aside of event.target)
* firstElementChild
* lastElementChild
* children
* length

* nextElementSibling
* parentElement
* previousElementSibling

#### [](https://dev.to/aadswebdes
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