We specifically use an existing CSS framework called 'Bootstrap'. 'Bootstrap' is just a name (albeit a pretty funky one) for a coding framework that brings together the 3 main components of building web-based software, namely HTML, CSS and JS.

"Whoa there cowboy, this is my first web rodeo, what the heck's HTML, CSS and JS? It sounds like initials of some of my best friends from school days!"

HTML5

Well HTML5 is a core technology language of that thing called the internet, and it's used for (a) structuring and (b) presenting content through the internet and your web browser connection.

CSS

CSS (the initials, by pure coincidence, of my maths teachers at school), stands for 'Cascading Style Sheets'. 'Cascading' as in like a cascading waterfall. It's basically a set of rules that governs the look and feel of something written in that 'language' called HTML.

We sometimes think of HTML in terms of building a house: HTML is the building blocks, and CSS is the interior and external design.

JS

So what's JS? Well it stands for 'JavaScript' which is just a phrase for another popular computer programming language.

Technically it's a 'scripting' language that runs inside the web browser. It can make those building blocks called HTML do some pretty cool stuff too, as it basically enables our development team to arrange the content on Complyfile pretty dynamically.

We use it in conjunction with those waterfall-like 'Cascading Style Sheets' to change the look of a web page's content, depending on what you do on that page. A common example is when a little window pops-up in Complyfile, e.g. to send an email to one of your users.

It also helps us move fast in Complyfile, as JavaScript lets us load your web quickly, keeping to an absolute minimum the number of times your Complyfile web pages have to fetch additional information from the Complyfile servers.