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The 3 Basic Layers of Web Design

  • May 20, 2016
  • By JJ Johnson
  • In Website

It’s enriching to learn new information and understand how marketing and the internet work together.  Blindspot is a Minnesota based web design company that focuses on broadening your understanding in many facets of the digital marketing world.  This article is to help you see and understand the process of what it takes to put a full website together in simple terms.

Structure

The structure or theme of a web-page is the bare bones of the web design.  This is what is referred to as content layer.  It is basically the HTML code of that page.  If the HTML were a house, it would be the firm foundation on which the rest of the house is built.  We could even add the woodwork as being the HTML as well.  Everything else within the web design will rest on the frame and be upheld by the foundation.

There are a few different parts of a website that you will see within the structure layer.  These would include the text on the pages, hyperlinks to navigate throughout the site, and images that hold it all together.

Style

The style layer of web design is the completed interior of the site.  This is the part of your site visitors see.  The structure layer is all of the behind the scenes work, and the style makes it look pretty and hospitable.  One major complaint of this layer is the Cascading Style Sheets, or CSS.  This is a document that determines how the site is displayed on a screen, whether it’s a large desktop computer, a tablet, or a mobile device.

Behavior

The final stage of web design is the behavior of the page.  This would be the actual functioning of the home, to continue to use our house building metaphor.  Here we test how each page interacts with one another and determine how the site reacts to the user’s actions on the page.  Knowledge of JavaScript, CGI, or PHP are crucial for web developers in this phase.

Web Design Simplified

These three layers of web design are the basics that all web developers use from Minnesota to England.  This article is to give you a taste of what the web development process looks like.  There are, of course, many more details and smaller elements to each of these layers that only the web developer and designers need to be concerned with.

“I want to put a ding in the universe.” - STEVE JOBS

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