Web Developer Interview Questions and Answers
Appearing for a web developer interview is the first step of what could be a very successful career of your dreams. However, if you really want to nail the interview, you need to be prepared for the commonly-asked web developer interview questions.
In the era of the Internet, web design and web development are very prospective jobs and many big companies are hiring new developers on a daily basis. However, the competition is quite fierce so you need to take every advantage you can get.
Since it all starts with the job interview, it only makes sense that you are ready to answer all the web designer interview questions as well as the web development interview questions.
So without further ado, let’s take a look at the commonly-asked interview questions for a web designer. Hopefully, these developer interview questions will help you score the job of your dreams.
Good luck!
General Web Development Questions
Q. Define web development.
A. This is one of the first interview questions for a web developer you will need to answer during the interview.
To put it simply, web development means building functional websites and applications. The key elements of web development are web design and programming.
Q. What are static and dynamic websites?
A. This is one of the commonly-asked web design interview questions and you should know the difference between static and dynamic websites at any given moment. First of all, you have to know that a website is a collection of web pages containing some kind of content.
Static websites are pretty basic and easy to create because you don’t need any programming knowledge for building them. The web pages of a static website are coded in HTML.
Dynamic websites consist of dynamic web pages. They use server-side languages such as PHP, SERVLET, JSP, ASP.NET, etc. The main advantage of dynamic websites is Content Management System (CMS).
Q. Explain Front-End Development and Backend Development.
A. Front-end and backed are two main components of every website. The front-end covers everything you see on the website including but not limited to website layout, sidebar, slider, navigation, footer, etc.
Backed development, on the other hand, is the main coding area with the use of programming language and database.
This is one of the web designing interview questions and answers for freshers that you should be familiar with
Q. What is HTTP?
A. This is one of the commonly asked web technology interview questions. Long story short, HTTP aka Hypertext Transfer Protocol is the protocol that defines how messages are formatted and transmitted, and what actions Web servers and browsers should take in response to various commands.
Q. Name the core technologies around which the web development takes place.
A. HTML, CSS, and JavaScript are the main front-end technologies. The main backend development technologies include programming languages such as Python, PHP etc. as well as the databases such as MySQL, Oracle, and others.
Q. What is software?
A. This is one of the pretty basic web developer interview questions and answers for freshers. To put it simply, the software is a general term for all kinds of programs used to operate computers, mobile devices, and similar. It is basically a set of computer instructions and/or data that determines how the computer works.
Q. What are the frameworks in Web Development?
A. This is a web development interview question you should definitely be familiar with because frameworks are a big part of web development.
Frameworks are a complete set of software build to help you develop programs and apps more easily. They carry out a given set of instructions based on APIs, web service, multiple platform layout over the use of web resources, etc.
Q. Name the tools used in web development.
A. When preparing for website development interview questions, you should know that many different tools are used the purpose of the web development. Here are some examples:
– Server: Cpanel, WHM, Command Mode
– File Editor: Notepad++, Adobe Dreamweaver, Sublime Text, NetBeans (JAVA)
Q. What are libraries in a programming language?
A. Libraries are very useful to web developers and they are often the subject of web designer interview questions and answers. You should know that they are prerequisite collections of instructions that web developers use directly in their programming.
Q. Name some of the popular programming languages for web development.
A. Many programming languages have been in use lately, but here are some of the most popular ones: C, Java, PHP, JavaScript, C++, Python, Shell, Ruby etc.
Q. What are APIs?
A. APIs aka Application Programming Interfaces are pre-set functions and procedures that allow special features to be accessible over the internet.
Q. What should a junior web developer know?
A. When it comes to junior web developer interview questions, they should have a basic understanding of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, they should be familiar with the commonly used databases, and they should know the basics of programming to be able to create new forms of websites.
Q. What are web browsers?
A. This is also one of the commonly-asked web designing interview questions and answers and there are many ways to describe what a web browser does. However, we will try to put it as simply as possible and say that web browsers are software programs that allow a user to locate, access, and display web pages.
Q. What is a web server?
A. Web Servers are the backend continuous running programs that allow requests to be processed via HTTP protocols. They are often a subject of the web developer interview questions and answers.
Q. What is web hosting?
A. Web hosting refers to special internet services that allow your website to run 24/7. The common types of web hosting include Linux Web Hosting, Windows Web Hosting, Dedicated Server etc.
Q. What are databases?
A. Just like the name suggests, databases are collections of data. The data is stored in multiple tables form, views, reports, schemes, and queries. SQL (Structured Query language) is currently the most popular database in the world.
When preparing for web design interview questions and answers, you should definitely learn more about databases as they are a very important part of web development.
Q. What are web services?
A. When preparing for web developer interview questions, you should know that there are 2 types of web services:
– Generic: a service offered by an electronic device to another electronic device, communicating with each other via the World Wide Web
– Specific: a web service implemented in the particular technology or brand, W3C Web Services
To put it simply, web services provide an object-oriented web-based interface to a database server.
Q. What is the cloud?
A. Clouds are new technologies on which several configurations can be shared from multiple resources over the internet. Cloud computing is an important part of junior developer interview questions.
Q. What are W3C standards?
A. W3C aka World Wide Web Consortium is the main international standard organization for developing standards for the Web Development. It was founded by Tim Berners-Lee who is also the inventor of the Web.
Q. How web development works for businesses?
A. Websites have become one of the most important parts of basically every business. With billions of people online, web development is now something every business owner has to think about.
Q. What is a pseudo-class?
A. Pseudo-class is a CSS technique for setting the style when an element changes its state. This is one of the web designer interview questions and answers for experienced as well as for beginners.
Q. What is Namespacing in JavaScript?
A. From time to time, you will have to use global variables in JavaScript where the namespacing ties down a part of the code and registers it with a unique name.
Q. How can you reduce page loading time?
A. This is one of the most important web design interview questions and answers for freshers. Every web developer should be familiar with the practices that can help you reduce page loading time. The most popular ones include reducing image size, removing unnecessary widgets, HTTP compression, placing CSS at the top and script referencing at the bottom or external files, reducing lookups, minimizing redirects and caching, etc.
Q. What is CORS?
A. Cross-Origin Resource Sharing aka CORS enables different resources on a web page to be requested from another domain outside the domain from which the request originated.
Q. What are the advantages of HTTP 2.0 over HTTP 1.1?
A. If this happens to be one of the web designing questions you have to answer during an interview, there are several things to name. The major advantages of HTTP 2.0 include headers compression, push notification, intelligent packet streaming management, parallel loading of page elements over a single TCP connection, etc.
Q. How do you take into account SEO, maintainability, UX, performance, and security when you’re building a web application?
A. This is one of the tricky interview questions on web development because you need to explain that the actions have to be prioritized according to the organization’s type and requirements. For example, if the organization handles vital data, security should be a top priority. If, on the other hand, we are talking about small or medium-sized online businesses, SEO and UX should be prioritized.
Q. What are the new form elements introduced in HTML5?
A. The new form elements introduced in HTML5 are:
– <datalist> – specifies a list of options for input controls.
– <keygen> – generates an encryption key.
– <output> – defines the result of an expression.
Q. What’s the best way to integrate 5 different stylesheets into a website?
A. If, of course, depends on the website but usually combining the stylesheets into single a one is the best way to go.
Q. What’s the difference between Canvas and SVG?
A. This is one of the commonly asked interview questions on web designing.
Canvas is an HTML5 element for drawing graphics on the fly with the help of JavaScript. Scalable Vector Graphics aka SVG is used to display vector-based graphics on the web.
Q. What is the default border size of a Canvas?
A. There is no default border size of a Canvas. You can adjust using CSS.
Q. What is the difference between ID and Class selector?
A. ID selector finds and modifies the style to any single element. Class selectors, on the other hand, can find and modify any number of elements.
Q. What is your preferred development environment?
A. This is a common interview question for a web developer and its purpose is to determine whether or not you are flexible to work in any environment. Let them know about the environments you are most comfortable working with but show them you are able to adapt to different environments with the skills you have.
Q. Which are the new APIs provided by HTML5?
A. Speaking about web developer interview questions, you should know that the new APIs provided by HTML5 are media API, text track API, application cache API, data transfer API, user interaction API, command API, constraint validation API, and history API.
Q. What is the difference between the null value and the undefined value?
A. Undefined means a variable has been declared but has not yet been assigned a value. Null is an assignment value.
Q. What are the web technologies that you are proficient in?
A. When answering web designer interview questions, you should mention that you are proficient in HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript. In addition to that, you should also be familiar with the most popular frameworks, databases, and APIs.
Q. What are the different types of pop-up boxes available in JavaScript? Explain them.
A. There are three types of pop-up boxes:
1. Alert – it just displays a message with an OK button.
2. Confirm – it pops up a confirmation message window with the OK and Cancel button.
3. Prompt – it pops up a dialog box asking user input followed confirmation buttons.
Q. What is Scope in JavaScript? Name the different types of Scopes.
A. The scope defines the accessibility of the functions and variables in an application. Scopes can be either global or logical.
Q. What is the difference between ‘==’ and ‘===’ operators?
A. Though both of them belong to the comparison operator category, the ‘==’ operator checks the value while the ‘===’ operator checks both the value and the type.
Q. By which mechanism in JavaScript can you detect the operating system on a client machine?
A. JavaScript property navigator.appVersion.
Front-End Developer Interview Questions
Q. What are the basic skills of a front-end developer?
A. This is one of the basic web developer interview questions when it comes to front-end development. A front-end developer should have a good working knowledge of HTML, CSS, JQuery, and JavaScript.
In addition to that, a big plus would be some experience in CMS such as WordPress, Drupal, and Joomla, as well as knowledge of cross-browser testing, OOPS and PHP, and SEO.
Q. How would you ensure that your web design is user-friendly?
A. A good front-end developer works alongside UX (User Experience) designers to ensure the best user experience possible. Frequent testing and ensuring the page is responsive and works equally well on all screens and devices is also an important step of creating user-friendly apps and websites.
Q. What is CoffeeScript?
A. CoffeeScript is a little programming language that assists to write JavaScript code better by presenting you with a more constant syntax and skirting the unusual nature of JavaScript language.
Q. Explain what is Clear.
A. A Clear is utilized when you don’t need an element to wrap around another element, such as a float.
Q. When would you utilize CSS float?
A. One should utilize CSS float when an element on the web page needs to be pushed to the right or left with the other elements being around it.
Q. What is a callback function?
A. This is a function passed into another function as an argument, which is then invoked inside the outer function to complete some kind of routine or action.
Q. How do you structure your source code to make it easy for leverage by your colleagues?
A. A front-end developer needs to explain the use of organization and commenting to their colleagues. They should discuss with the colleagues the use of the notes in the process to explain all the steps they have taken.
Q. Explain what is the difference between Class and Prototypal inheritance?
A. In JavaScript, the system is not class-based like in most of the programming languages; it is prototype-based. So let’s try and explain both types of inheritance.
Class inheritance – a class is a description of the object to be created. Classes inherit from classes and create subclass relationships.
Prototypal inheritance – a prototype is a working object instance. Objects inherit directly from other objects.
Q. Can you explain the difference between visibility:hidden; and display:none?
A. Visibility:Hidden; – It is not visible but gets its original space.
Display:None; – It is hidden and takes no space.
Q. Explain what is the difference between a host object and a native object?
A. A host object is supplied by a particular environment. A native object is a standard built-in object in JavaScript.
Q. What is the difference between XHTML and HTML?
A. HTML is often a subject of website designer interview questions.
HTML and XHTML are both markup languages in which web pages are written. However, HTML syntax is SGML based. XHTML syntax, on the other hand is XML based.
Q. Explain how variables differ in CoffeeScript than JavaScript?
A. In JavaScript, you have to add a semi-colon for variables at the end of it to execute while you don’t have to do that in CoffeeScript. Unlike, CoffeeScript, JavaScript adds up semi-colon with ease.
Q. Can you tell us what are the benefits of Coffee Script over JavaScript?
A. CoffeeScript has a lot of lightweight add-ons like Ruby string Interpolation and Python style list comprehension.
– It enables you to express your program with less code
– It makes even good JavaScript code more readable
– It makes day-to-day tasks easier to perform
Q. What are the differences between Get and Post?
A. This is one of the web technology interview questions and answers for freshers.
A GET request is used for AJAX calls to an API. POST request, on the other hand, is utilized to store data in a database or submit data through a form.
GET requests can be viewed by the users in the URL, whereas POST requests are used in two steps and are not seen by the user. Basically, POST requests are more secure.
Q. Can you tell us when would you utilize CSS clear?
A. CSS clear should be utilized when we want an element on the left or right of the floating element not to wrap around it.
Q. Have you ever used an MVC? What did you like about it?
A. This is one of the web developer interview questions that doesn’t come with just one correct answer and it basically comes down to your own preference. However, if you are able to explain in an articulate way why you prefer one MVC over the other, it will show that you are engaged in it and that you care about the technology. It also shows that you are open to different options and flexible when it comes to your job.
Q. How do you clear a floated element?
A. clear:both
Q. What Is A Tag In HTML?
A. Web design questions like this are pretty common during an interview. To put it simply, a tag instructs the browser about how to format the HTML properly. When you write an HTML page, you enter tags to change the appearance of text, to show a graphic, or to make a link to another page. HTML uses symbols like “<” and “>” to enclose the tags. And symbol “\” for closing the tag.
Q. Can you briefly explain what a Thread-Local object in Python Flask is?
A. Front-end developers use thread local objects internally through Python Flask. With this function, the user doesn’t have to pass objects from one function to another so it is basically a question of user-friendliness. However, keep in mind that obtaining a valid request context is essential for this approach to work properly.
Back-End Developer Interview Questions
Q. What is your favorite programming language and why?
A. Once again, we have a web designing question with many possible answers and it gives you a chance to openly talk about your work experience and preferences. Use this chance to show you are passionate about your job and also make it clear that you are comfortable with several languages rather than sticking with one and one only.
Q. How would you describe the software lifecycle in your most recent position?
A. This web designer interview question has the purpose of ensuring that the new employee will fit in with the organization and the development team.
Most companies today have adopted an agile methodology, some stick with the previously popular Waterfall approach, but the best thing to do when answering this question is to stay somewhere in between.
Q. What is the largest web application you have ever worked on? What coding were you responsible for?
A. Web developer interview questions like this allow the employer to get a better understanding of your background and experience. It helps them understand who you are as a developer and what you’re most comfortable working on. The most important skills and abilities to show here aren’t just about claiming you had worked on huge and important projects in the past. It is more about showing you are able to work in a team, handle complex tasks, etc.
Q. What is your understanding and experience with object-oriented programming (OOP)?
A. This is one of the website design interview questions that might be hard to answer in just a few lines but it is important that the employer knows about your OOP experience since it is a big part of modern web development. Object-oriented programming is a key part of organizing code and making it possible to apply groups of code to various situations.
However, some developers prefer procedural programming where the code organization is focused on action rather than on the object. Neither way is wrong, but by asking web interview questions of this sort, the employer will gain a better understanding of who you are as a developer and what your usual routines and practices are.
Q. Have you ever experienced OOP go wrong? What elements of OO design are most prone to abuse and misuse? How may this be prevented?
A. If you have never experienced OOP go wrong – great. However, you still have to know what elements of OO are prone to abuse and misuse and how this may be prevented. This question is basically just an extension of the previous one and it encourages you to express yourself more freely regarding Object-oriented programming.
It allows you to freely state your opinions about the tools and processes they operate within. You can mention some of the limitations within programming languages, classes or methods, or anything else you believe deserves to be critiqued and/or challenged.
UI Developer Interview Questions
Q. How do you optimize the website’s assets?
A. Website’s assets can be optimized in many ways including file concatenation, file compression, CDN Hosting, offloading assets, re-organizing and refining code, and more. Make sure to name several of them when answering your web application interview questions.
Q. What must you be wary of when developing multilingual sites?
A. There are several things one should pay attention to when designing a multilingual site. Basic things include setting the default language, using Unicode encoding, using the ‘lang’ attribute, being aware of standard font sizes and text direction, and language word length (may affect layout).
Q. What is HTML?
A. HTML aka HyperText Markup Language is the dominant markup language for creating websites and anything that can be viewed in a web browser. You could read a bit more about the history of HTML if you wish to gain a more in-depth knowledge of the evolution of this markup language.
Q. What is the difference between HTML elements and tags?
A. HTML elements communicate to the browser how to render text. When surrounded by angular brackets <> they form HTML tags. For the most part, tags come in pairs and surround text.
Q. What is “Semantic HTML?”
A. Semantic HTML is a coding style where the tags embody what the text is meant to convey. However, keep in mind that tags that represent formatting (for example, tags for bold or italic) should not be used in Semantic HTML because they provide no indication of meaning or structure.
Examples of semantic HTML tags include the header tags <h1> through <h6>, <blockquote>, <code> and <em>.
Q. What does DOCTYPE mean?
A. The term DOCTYPE tells the browser which type of HTML is used on a webpage. In turn, the browsers use DOCTYPE to determine how to render a page. Failing to use DOCTYPE or using the wrong DOCTYPE may load your page in Quirks Mode.
Q. What’s the difference between standard mode and quirks mode?
A. Back in the days, pages were written in two versions: Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer. When W3C, was introduced, browsers couldn’t just start using them like that because most sites on the web would break. Two new modes were introduced to treat the new standards:
Quirks mode – layout emulates nonstandard behavior in Navigator 4 and IE 5. These were needed for websites written before the introduction of web standards.
Full standard mode – the behavior described is the same as described by HTML and CSS specifications. Most of the modern browsers use full standard mode.
There is also a third option, almost standard mode, where there is a very small number of quirks implementation.
Q. What are the limitations when serving XHTML pages?
A. One of the biggest issues with XHTML is poor browser support. Internet Explorer and a number of other user agents cannot parse XHTML as XML.
Ending thoughts on web developer interview questions
If you want to prepare for your next job interview, the above web developer interview questions should help you to do so. We have covered all types of web design questions and answers you should expect during the interview. From general questions to the specialized web developer interview questions and answers for experienced, you should be able to find all of the answers you may need right in this document.
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