What are the differences between innerHTML and textContent in JS?

1 HTML vs. Text

innerHTML is a property that gets or sets the HTML content inside an element. When you use innerHTML , not only do you access the text within that element, but you also get all the HTML markup. This includes tags, attributes, and any nested elements. It's a powerful feature for when you need to update the structure of your web page dynamically. However, because it parses HTML, it can introduce security risks like Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) if not used carefully with sanitized content.

2 Security Risks

The security implications of using innerHTML cannot be overstated. When setting HTML directly through innerHTML , you run the risk of inadvertently executing malicious scripts, especially if the content is coming from user input or an untrusted source. textContent , on the other hand, treats the assigned string as pure text and does not parse it as HTML, making it a safer option for updating text content without risking script execution.

3 Performance Impact

Performance is a key consideration in Business Intelligence applications, and the choice between innerHTML and textContent can impact it. innerHTML is generally slower because the browser has to parse new HTML and build DOM elements. In contrast, textContent directly changes the text without any HTML parsing. This makes textContent faster and more efficient when you simply need to update the text within an element.

4 Node Content

Understanding the node structure of the DOM is essential when choosing between innerHTML and textContent . innerHTML will retrieve or set the content of an element including its descendant nodes. In contrast, textContent gets or sets the combined text of an element and all its descendants. This means that textContent will ignore any HTML tags and only deal with the text nodes, which can be useful when you want to extract or update only the text part of your content.

5 Styling Considerations

When updating content on a web page, you might also need to consider how that content is styled. If you use textContent , any styling applied via HTML tags will not be rendered because it treats everything as plain text. However, with innerHTML , since you're dealing with actual HTML markup, the styles associated with the HTML tags will be applied. This distinction is crucial when your BI dashboard or report needs to maintain consistent styling while dynamically updating content.

6 Use Cases

Choosing between innerHTML and textContent often comes down to specific use cases. Use innerHTML when you need to manipulate or retrieve structured HTML along with its text content. It's suitable for cases where you're creating templates or when you need to insert complex elements into the DOM. On the other hand, textContent is ideal for updating the text of an element where the structure does not change, such as updating values in a BI dashboard or report without altering any of the surrounding markup or style.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?