The Front-end Framework for Web Design: An Introduction to the Document Object Model

How the DOM Transforms a HTML Document Into an Interactive Webpage

Photo by Ilya Pavlov on Unsplash

When you view the source code of any webpage, you just see neat orderly HTML along possibly with some CSS and JavaScript. However, in your browser, you interact with those code files in a totally different format — as an interactive, responsive site.

What happens in between to transform plain code into a dynamic experience? This is where the Document Object Model — better known as the DOM — comes into play.

In this article, we will demystify the DOM — the glue between web documents and how you experience them. We’ll cover:

• What exactly the DOM is
• How it transforms HTML, CSS, JavaScript
• Usage for dynamically modifying pages
• Common tasks like getting elements, traversing nodes, etc.

By the end, you’ll understand this critical pillar that bridges written code and rendered websites. Let’s lift the veil on the DOM!

The DOM Represented as a Family Tree

On the most basic level, the DOM represents your HTML as an interconnected object-based structure…