Clever stuff

Sorry folks .... got a bit carried away here .... many thanks to Google for what may or may not be true ...

Apparently, there are different types of spider webs: there's an orb web, tangle web, funnel web, tubular web and sheet web.

During the process of making an orb web the spider climbs to a starting point (eg up a tree branch) and releases a length of thread into the wind. With any luck, the free end of the thread will catch onto another branch. It then walks across the thread, releasing a looser thread below the first one. It attaches this thread on both ends and then climbs to its centre. The looser strand sags downward, forming a V-shape. The spider lowers itself from this point, to form a Y-shape. After gathering up the dangly thread it's fixed to one of the existing threads. This forms the core support structure of the web.

After building radius threads, the spider lays nonstick silk to form an auxiliary spiral, extending from the centre of the web to the outer edge of the web. The spider then spirals in on the web, laying out sticky thread. The spider eats up the auxiliary spiral as it lays out the sticky spiral, resulting in a web with non-sticky radius threads, for getting around, and a sticky spiral for catching bugs.

The web is also electrically conductive which causes the silk threads to spring out to trap their quarry, as flying insects tend gain a static charge which attracts the silk.

Clever spider! It's complicated stuff, building webs.