Get style with js - from StackOVerflow http://stackoverflow.com/questions/6338217/get-a-css-value-with-javascript //style = window.getComputedStyle(element) // window.getComputedStyle($("H1"))//(element) - can't passin jQ object // jQ css method can set, and only returns some style property attributes- not from all stylesheets $(".quote").css({'padding-bottom':'9pt'}); $("H1").css({'padding-bottom':'9pt'}); var element = document.getElementById('image_1'), style = window.getComputedStyle(element), top = style.getPropertyValue('top'); var jel, jss, jcc jel = document.getElementsByTagName('h1')[0] //getElementsByTagName('h1') returns nNodeList so make sure to get o 0th child jss = window.getComputedStyle(jel) jcc = jss.getPropertyValue('color') window.getComputedStyle( document.getElementsByTagName('h1')[0] ).color