OOP in HTML ???

Relative newbie here and not entirely sure this is the right forum vis a vis
the cfusion forum I will cross post in as well (apologies for this breach of
etiquette) but I've taken the Lynda courses and used various books as resources
but can't seem to find a reference to:

one area of a web page (say left most) is used for search terms, another (say
middle) is used for returned results listing and a third area for the selected
"page" from the list to be displayed.

I'm pretty sure this can be done with frames but for various reasons I am
reluctant to use frames or if possible even javascript. Moreover, correct me
if I am wrong but best practices suggest each area above could/should be its
own cfc and if so how can I make it so that (say) the middle and/or right hand
areas display only upon being "called" ( I've played with visibility: hidden;
).

As well, I realize this is much of what flash/flex enables but I similarly
want to stay as basic as possible for now.

As always, thanks in advance.