How to check if DOM is ready without a framework?

Question

How to check if DOM is ready without a framework?

91.5k Views Asked by Vilx- At 04 April 2025 at 21:49

The question is so like a zillion others here and on the web - How to check if DOM has loaded in Javascript? But here's the catch:

Without using a framework like jQuery etc;
Without knowing if your script has been loaded via a statically placed <script> tag or via some other Javascript much later after the DOM has already loaded.

Can this be done more or less reliably and with cross-browser compatibility?

Added: Let me clarify: I'm writing a standalone .JS file which can be included in arbitrary webpages. I want to execute code AFTER the DOM has been loaded. But I don't know HOW my script will be included. It could be by placing a <script> tag (in which case the traditional onload or DOM-readiness solutions will work); or it could be loaded via AJAX or some other means, much later after the DOM is already loaded (so the previously mentioned solutions will never fire).

Original Q&A

There are 7 best solutions below

John Hartsock On 11 November 2011 at 22:13

Here is one way by running script at the bottom of the page. In addition by using the window.onload you can wait for all images/scripts to be loaded. Or you could simply place code at the bottom not waiting for images to be loaded.

<html>
<head>
</head>
<body>
</body>
<script language="text/javascript">
  window.onload = (function (oldOnLoad) {
    return function () {
      if (oldOnLoad) { 
        olOnLoad();  //fire old Onload event that was attached if any.
      }
      // your code to run after images/scripts are loaded
    }
  })(window.onload);

  // your code to run after DOM is loaded
</script>
</html>

Edited: for Vilx's Comment

Many onload bindings here is an example http://jsfiddle.net/uTF2N/3/

jfriend00 On 11 November 2011 at 22:21

Firefox, Opera and Webkit-based browsers have a document-level event DOMContentLoaded that you can listen for with document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", fn, false).

It is more complicated in IE. What jQuery does in IE is watch onreadystatechange on the document object for a particular readystate with a backup of the document.onload event. document.onload fires later than the DOM is ready (only when all images have finished loading) so it's only used as a backstop in case the earlier events don't work for some reason.

If you spend some time Googling, you will find code to do this. I figure the most vetted code to do this is in the large frameworks like jQuery and YUI so, even if I'm not using that framework, I look in their source code for techniques.

Here's the main part of jQuery 1.6.2 source for document.ready():

bindReady: function() {
    if ( readyList ) {
        return;
    }

    readyList = jQuery._Deferred();

    // Catch cases where $(document).ready() is called after the
    // browser event has already occurred.
    if ( document.readyState === "complete" ) {
        // Handle it asynchronously to allow scripts the opportunity to delay ready
        return setTimeout( jQuery.ready, 1 );
    }

    // Mozilla, Opera and webkit nightlies currently support this event
    if ( document.addEventListener ) {
        // Use the handy event callback
        document.addEventListener( "DOMContentLoaded", DOMContentLoaded, false );

        // A fallback to window.onload, that will always work
        window.addEventListener( "load", jQuery.ready, false );

    // If IE event model is used
    } else if ( document.attachEvent ) {
        // ensure firing before onload,
        // maybe late but safe also for iframes
        document.attachEvent( "onreadystatechange", DOMContentLoaded );

        // A fallback to window.onload, that will always work
        window.attachEvent( "onload", jQuery.ready );

        // If IE and not a frame
        // continually check to see if the document is ready
        var toplevel = false;

        try {
            toplevel = window.frameElement == null;
        } catch(e) {}

        if ( document.documentElement.doScroll && toplevel ) {
            doScrollCheck();
        }
    }
},

Christoph On 11 November 2011 at 23:22

If relying on document.readyState is ok, quick-and-dirty solution with polling:

(function() {
    var state = document.readyState;
    if(state === 'interactive' || state === 'complete') {
        // do stuff
    }
    else setTimeout(arguments.callee, 100);
})();

John Foley On 24 April 2013 at 15:50

This works for all browsers and is short and concise:

var execute = function () {
  alert("executing code");  
};

if ( !!(window.addEventListener) )
  window.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", execute)
else // MSIE
  window.attachEvent("onload", execute)

GMKHussain On 19 February 2023 at 16:24

We can just use DOMContentLoaded is Pure JavaScript approach.

const domReady = (callBack) => {
  document.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', callBack);
  if( document.readyState === "interactive" || document.readyState === "complete" ) {
    callBack();
  }
}

const WhenDomLoaded = () => {
  console.log("Dom Loaded now!")
}

domReady(() => WhenDomLoaded() );

Malik Khalil Ahmad On 29 May 2016 at 10:25

The DOMContentLoaded event is fired when the initial HTML document has been completely loaded and parsed, without waiting for stylesheets, images, and subframes to finish loading.Good thing is chrome, firefox, IE9, opera and safari supports it equally

document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", function(event) 
{
    console.log("DOM fully loaded and parsed");
}

NOTE : Internet Explorer 8 supports the readystatechange event, which can be used to detect when the DOM is ready.

**Digital Plane** · Accepted Answer

The document.readyState property can be used to check if the document is ready. From MDN:

Values

The readyState of a document can be one of following:

loading – The document is still loading.

interactive – The document has finished loading and the document has been parsed but sub-resources such as images, stylesheets and frames are still loading.

complete – The document and all sub-resources have finished loading. The state indicates that the load event is about to fire.

Code example:

if(document.readyState === "complete") {
    // Fully loaded!
}
else if(document.readyState === "interactive") {
    // DOM ready! Images, frames, and other subresources are still downloading.
}
else {
    // Loading still in progress.
    // To wait for it to complete, add "DOMContentLoaded" or "load" listeners.

    window.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => {
        // DOM ready! Images, frames, and other subresources are still downloading.
    });

    window.addEventListener("load", () => {
        // Fully loaded!
    });
}

How to check if DOM is ready without a framework?

There are 7 best solutions below

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