Want the DOM Explained Like You’re 5? Then This Article is for You

It has nothing to do with fast cars or saying “family” in a gravely voice, but has everything to do with how your browser understands cat videos, capybara pictures, and your mother’s political Facebook rant. By the end of this, you’ll not only be able to explain the DOM like you’re five, but you’ll be able to explain the DOM like you’ve been working at Google for a decade!

What is the DOM?

A server (let’s say Facebook) needs to deliver a cat video to you.

Everything is sent as electronic data. So, if you as a person could receive something Facebook is sending you, you’d just see something like this:

Not the cat video you were hoping for.

What’s needed is something in between the electronic data and you to make the data make sense.