Calling the preventDefault() method of the event object will cancel the default handling that the browser is programmed to execute.
Opening a new page on an a element click event, for example.
Or submitting a form on the submit event.
Calling preventDefault() is what you need to do to completely customize the action. Perhaps by creating a fetch request to load some JSON instead of opening a new page on a link click.
Other event handlers defined on this same element will execute. Unless you call event.stopImmediatePropagation().