A DOM structure consists of a tree-like collection of objects called "Nodes" and a set of methods that one can use to traverse this hierarchy. The top-level object is referred to as a "Document".

A DOM Document can be created from an XML string, like the following description of a person's cd music collection:

<cdlibrary>
	<cd id="0001">
		<name>Robbie Fulks</name>
		<title>Couples in Trouble</title>
	</cd>
	<cd id="0002">
		<name>Richard Thompson</name>
		<title>Mock Tudor</title>
	</cd>
	<cd id="0003">
		<name>Keller Williams</name>
		<title>Laugh</title>
	</cd>
</cdlibrary>