JavaScript Event Handlers – onclick() and ondblclick()

When a link is clicked it takes the user to the page specified in the URL of the HREF attribute. To prevent this from happening, use javascript:void(0) as the value of HREF.

<A HREF="javascript:void(0)"
onmouseover="document.bgColor='#EEEEEE'">
Dead link</A>

Link

You may wonder why we can’t use HREF=”” (a blank or no value) instead of HREF=”javascript:void(0)”. The reason is that a blank or null value for HREF is interpreted as the URL of the directory. Thus, in our case if we use HREF=””, the browser actually sees it as http://www.webdevelopersnotes.com/tutorials/javascript/.
javascript:void(0) returns (not specifies!) a null value. Hence, whenever a link is clicked no page is loaded.

Mouse clicks and event handlers

So far we have only looked at event handlers that capture mouse movements over a link. JavaScript also provides event handlers for links that understand mouse button clicks; onclick and ondblclick. Their usage is similar to other event handlers.

<A HREF="javascript:void(0)" 
onclick="alert('You clicked on the link')">
Dead link</A>

Dead link

<A HREF="javascript:void(0)" 
ondblclick="alert('You double clicked on the link')">
Double click on me</A>

Double click on me

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