IsContentEditable

IsContentEditable is a read-only boolean property of DOM elements that indicates whether the element is editable by the user at the present moment. It returns true when the element itself is marked contentEditable or when an ancestor is, or when the document is in designMode, making editing possible for the element and its descendants. If none of these conditions apply, it returns false. The value reflects the current editability state rather than any active editing session such as focus or input.

This property is related to, but distinct from, the contentEditable content attribute or property. The contentEditable attribute determines whether editing is allowed and can take values such as true, false, or inherit. isContentEditable reports the resulting boolean rather than exposing the possible values.

Usage: developers often read isContentEditable to adapt UI or logic based on whether a portion of the document is editable, or to gate certain features that should only run when editing is permitted. It is read-only, so it should not be assigned directly; to enable editing you modify the element's contentEditable state or the document's designMode.

Browser compatibility: supported in major browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge). See documentation for any edge cases related to inherited or nested editing contexts.