This is an experimental technology
Because this technology's specification has not stabilized, check the compatibility table for usage in various browsers. Also note that the syntax and behavior of an experimental technology is subject to change in future versions of browsers as the specification changes.
A MediaQueryList
object stores information on a media query applied to a document, and handles sending notifications to listeners when the media query state change (i.e. when the media query test starts or stops evaluating to true
).
This makes it possible to observe a document to detect when its media queries change, instead of polling the values periodically, and allows you to programmatically make changes to a document based on media query status.
Properties
The new version of the MediaQueryList
interface inherits properties from its parent interface, EventTarget
.
MediaQueryList.matches
Read only- A
Boolean
that returnstrue
if thedocument
currently matches the media query list, orfalse
if not. MediaQueryList.media
Read only- A
DOMString
representing a serialized media query.
Event handlers
MediaQueryList.onchange
- An event handler property representing a function that is invoked when the
change
event fires, i.e when the status of media query support changes. The event object is aMediaQueryListEvent
instance, which is recognised as aMediaListQuery
instance in older browsers, for backwards compatibility purposes.
Methods
The new version of the MediaQueryList
interface inherits methods from its parent interface, EventTarget
.
MediaQueryList.addListener()
- Adds a listener to the
MediaQueryListener
that will run a custom callback function in response to the media query status changing. This is basically an alias forEventTarget.addEventListener()
, for backwards compatibility purposes. MediaQueryList.removeListener()
- Removes a listener from the
MediaQueryListener
. This is basically an alias forEventTarget.removeEventListener()
, for backwards compatibility purposes.
Examples
This simple example creates a MediaQueryList
and then sets up a listener to detect when the media query status changes, running a custom function when it does to change the appearence of the page.
var para = document.querySelector('p'); var mql = window.matchMedia('(max-width: 600px)'); function screenTest(e) { if (e.matches) { /* the viewport is 600 pixels wide or less */ para.textContent = 'This is a narrow screen — less than 600px wide.'; document.body.style.backgroundColor = 'red'; } else { /* the viewport is more than than 600 pixels wide */ para.textContent = 'This is a wide screen — more than 600px wide.'; document.body.style.backgroundColor = 'blue'; } } mql.addListener(screenTest);
Note: You can find this example on GitHub (see the source code, and also see it running live).
Specifications
Specification | Status | Comment |
---|---|---|
CSS Object Model (CSSOM) View Module The definition of 'MediaQueryList' in that specification. |
Working Draft | Initial definition |
Browser compatibility
Feature | Chrome | Edge | Firefox (Gecko) | Internet Explorer | Opera | Safari |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Basic support | 9 | (Yes) | 6.0 (6.0) | 10 | 12.1 | 5 |
New version spec update | (Yes) | ? | 55 (55) | No support | (Yes) | ? |
Feature | Android | Edge | Firefox Mobile (Gecko) | IE Mobile | Opera Mobile | Safari Mobile | Chrome for Android |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Basic support | ? | (Yes) | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
New version spec update | No support | ? | 55.0 (55) | No support | (Yes) | ? | (Yes) |