javascript - When do I use .val() vs .innerHTML?

Question

In JQuery when trying to access elements, I see that if I have a form (lets say a textarea), and I want to get the text inside of it, I must use $("textarea").val();

Instead if I have a h1 element, I must use $("h")[0].innerHTML;

Why is this the case? h1.val()/textarea.innerHTML do not work

Answer 1

.val() is used to get/replace input elements values in jQuery, alternative in JS is .value.

innerHTML or jQuery's .html() is used to get/replace the whole markup inside an element, not input elements.

text() is used almost the same as JS innertHTML, only it gets/replaces the text inside an element, not all the tags etc. It's bassically the equivalent of JS innerText

Reference links about innerHTML, innerText, val(), text(), html()