Understanding web page layout
Just like any other source, it is useful to understand the layout of a web page to pickup clues about the site and the information in it. Information on the web tends to be business-related/commercial or personal. As a result, many of your search results maybe be companies marketing or selling products or personal web pages, e-mail messages, newsgroup postings. These sources are not necessarily invalid for your research, however one should embrace the information with caution.
When checking a Web document, you must become familiar with the three main components: the header; the body; and, the footer:
Types of information typically found in each section
| Header | Body | Footer |
| Link to local home page Institution or Organization Logo | Content or substance of the page and site Intended audience Purpose of the information | Author, Organization, and contact information Link to local home page Date of creation or revision |
Adapted from Purdue University Libraries Evaluating web sites