ABSTRACT
While not everyone is going to graduate school and becoming a computer programmer, having a basic understanding of how computers work and how programs are written and used can impact the ways in which we write and interact with websites and other online spaces. Chances are, in some aspect of readers’ future jobs, they will utilize websites, whether reading, using, or writing for them. Thus, breaking down the steps in finding information on websites can provide readers one way to think about how we write and use websites on a daily basis, building connections between people, places, and things. In this chapter, readers will learn about web design from the perspective of the frontend operations (in other words, what users see on their screens) while thinking also about the backend operations (what goes on behind the scenes). Everything we see on the computer screen in front of us is written in code on the backend. That code enables information to be shared from one computer to the next over a network. People then access these websites from their frontends, through their designs. Because those designs have to be effective in their communications, readers will learn different suggestions for writing frontend designs that help users understand effectively.
