Chapter 4. Bootstrappin' Business

We've built our portfolio site and converted it to a WordPress theme. Now, it's time to flesh out our portfolio with some projects that demonstrate the range of our powers. Let's now turn to designing a complex business home page.

Take a moment to survey the home pages of successful businesses, such as these:

• Zappos (http://zappos.com)

• Amazon (http://amazon.com)

• Adobe (http://adobe.com)

• HP (http://hp.com)

While each has its own approach, what these sites have in common is that they manage considerable complexity.

We can get a grasp of some common features by breaking the website down into three categories, as follows, based on regions of the page:

• Banner/Masthead: This part contains the logo, main navigation with dropdowns, a secondary or utility navigation, and a login or register option

• Main content area: This features a complex layout with at least three columns, if not more

• Footer: This is filled with multiple columns of links and information

Let's demonstrate...