HTML Interview Questions and Answers
Freshers / Beginner level questions & answers
Ques 1. What is HTML?
Answer1:
HTML, or HyperText Markup Language, is a Universal language which allows an individual using special code to create web pages to be viewed on the Internet.
Answer2:
HTML ( H yper T ext M arkup L anguage) is the language used to write Web pages. You are looking at a Web page right now.
You can view HTML pages in two ways:
* One view is their appearance on a Web browser, just like this page -- colors, different text sizes, graphics.
* The other view is called "HTML Code" -- this is the code that tells the browser what to do.
Ques 2. What is a tag?
In HTML, a tag tells the browser what to do. When you write an HTML page, you enter tags for many reasons -- to change the appearance of text, to show a graphic, or to make a link to another page.
Ques 3. What is the simplest HTML page?
HTML Code:
<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>This is my page title! </TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY>
This is my message to the world!
</BODY>
</HTML>
Browser Display:
This is my message to the world!
Ques 4. How can I include comments in HTML?
Technically, since HTML is an SGML application, HTML uses SGML comment syntax. However, the full syntax is complex, and browsers don't support it in its entirety anyway. Therefore, use the following simplified rule to create HTML comments that both have valid syntax and work in browsers:
An HTML comment begins with "<!--", ends with "-->", and does not contain "--" or ">" anywhere in the comment.
The following are examples of HTML comments:
* <!-- This is a comment. -->
* <!-- This is another comment,
and it continues onto a second line. -->
* <!---->
Do not put comments inside tags (i.e., between "<" and ">") in HTML markup.
Ques 5. What is a Hypertext link?
A hypertext link is a special tag that links one page to another page or resource. If you click the link, the browser jumps to the link's destination.
Ques 6. What is everyone using to write HTML?
Everyone has a different preference for which tool works best for them. Keep in mind that typically the less HTML the tool requires you to know, the worse the output of the HTML. In other words, you can always do it better by hand if you take the time to learn a little HTML.
Ques 7. Can I nest tables within tables?
Yes, a table can be embedded inside a cell in another table. Here's a simple example:
<table>
<tr>
<td>this is the first cell of the outer table</td>
<td>this is the second cell of the outer table,
with the inner table embedded in it
<table>
<tr>
<td>this is the first cell of the inner table</td>
<td>this is the second cell of the inner table</td>
</tr>
</table>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
The main caveat about nested tables is that older versions of Netscape Navigator have problems with them if you don't explicitly close your TR, TD, and TH elements. To avoid problems, include every </tr>, </td>, and </th> tag, even though the HTML specifications don't require them. Also, older versions of Netscape Navigator have problems with tables that are nested extremely deeply (e.g., tables nested ten deep). To avoid problems, avoid nesting tables more than a few deep. You may be able to use the ROWSPAN and COLSPAN attributes to minimize table nesting. Finally, be especially sure to validate your markup whenever you use nested tables.
Ques 8. How do I align a table to the right (or left)?
You can use <TABLE ALIGN="right"> to float a table to the right. (Use ALIGN="left" to float it to the left.) Any content that follows the closing </TABLE> tag will flow around the table. Use <BR CLEAR="right"> or <BR CLEAR="all"> to mark the end of the text that is to flow around the table, as shown in this example:
The table in this example will float to the right.
<table align="right">...</table>
This text will wrap to fill the available space to the left of (and if the text is long enough, below) the table.
<br clear="right">
This text will appear below the table, even if there is additional room to its left.
Ques 9. How can I use tables to structure forms?
Small forms are sometimes placed within a TD element within a table. This can be a useful for positioning a form relative to other content, but it doesn't help position the form-related elements relative to each other.
To position form-related elements relative to each other, the entire table must be within the form. You cannot start a form in one TH or TD element and end in another. You cannot place the form within the table without placing it inside a TH or TD element. You can put the table inside the form, and then use the table to position the INPUT, TEXTAREA, SELECT, and other form-related elements, as shown in the following example.
<FORM ACTION="[URL]">
<TABLE BORDER="0">
<TR>
<TH>Account:</TH>
<TD><INPUT TYPE="text" NAME="account"></TD>
</TR>
<TR>
<TH>Password:</TH>
<TD><INPUT TYPE="password" NAME="password"></TD>
</TR>
<TR>
<TD> </TD>
<TD><INPUT TYPE="submit" NAME="Log On"></TD>
</TR>
</TABLE>
</FORM>
Ques 10. How do I center a table?
In your HTML, use
<div class="center">
<table>...</table>
</div>
In your CSS, use
div.center {
text-align: center;
Ques 11. How do I use forms?
The basic syntax for a form is: <FORM ACTION="[URL]">...</FORM>
When the form is submitted, the form data is sent to the URL specified in the ACTION attribute. This URL should refer to a server-side (e.g., CGI) program that will process the form data. The form itself should contain
* at least one submit button (i.e., an <INPUT TYPE="submit" ...> element),
* form data elements (e.g., <INPUT>, <TEXTAREA>, and <SELECT>) as needed, and
* additional markup (e.g., identifying data elements, presenting instructions) as needed.
Ques 12. How do I make a form so it can be submitted by hitting ENTER?
The short answer is that the form should just have one <INPUT TYPE=TEXT> and no TEXTAREA, though it can have other form elements like checkboxes and radio buttons.
Ques 13. How do I set the focus to the first form field?
You cannot do this with HTML. However, you can include a script after the form that sets the focus to the appropriate field, like this:
<form id="myform" name="myform" action=...>
<input type="text" id="myinput" name="myinput" ...>
</form>
<script type="text/javascript">
document.myform.myinput.focus();
</script>
A similar approach uses <body onload=...> to set the focus, but some browsers seem to process the ONLOAD event before the entire document (i.e., the part with the form) has been loaded.
Ques 14. How can I eliminate the extra space after a </form> tag?
HTML has no mechanism to control this. However, with CSS, you can set the margin-bottom of the form to 0. For example:
<form style="margin-bottom:0;" action=...>
You can also use a CSS style sheet to affect all the forms on a page:
form { margin-bottom: 0 ; }
Ques 15. How can I use forms for pull-down navigation menus?
There is no way to do this in HTML only; something else must process the form. JavaScript processing will work only for readers with JavaScript-enabled browsers. CGI and other server-side processing is reliable for human readers, but search engines have problems following any form-based navigation.
Ques 16. How can I avoid using the whole URL?
The URL structure defines a hierarchy (or relationship) that is similar to the hierarchy of subdirectories (or folders) in the filesystems used by most computer operating systems. The segments of a URL are separated by slash characters ("/"). When navigating the URL hierarchy, the final segment of the URL (i.e., everything after the final slash) is similar to a file in a filesystem. The other segments of the URL are similar to the subdirectories and folders in a filesystem.
A relative URL omits some of the information needed to locate the referenced document. The omitted information is assumed to be the same as for the base document that contains the relative URL. This reduces the length of the URLs needed to refer to related documents, and allows document trees to be accessed via multiple access schemes (e.g., "file", "http", and "ftp") or to be moved without changing any of the embedded URLs in those documents.
Before the browser can use a relative URL, it must resolve the relative URL to produce an absolute URL. If the relative URL begins with a double slash (e.g., //www.yoursite.com/faq/html/), then it will inherit only the base URL's scheme. If the relative URL begins with a single slash (e.g., /faq/html/), then it will inherit the base URL's scheme and network location.
If the relative URL does not begin with a slash (e.g., all.html , ./all.html or ../html/), then it has a relative path and is resolved as follows.
1. The browser strips everything after the last slash in the base document's URL and appends the relative URL to the result.
2. Each "." segment is deleted (e.g., ./all.html is the same as all.html, and ./ refers to the current "directory" level in the URL hierarchy).
3. Each ".." segment moves up one level in the URL hierarchy; the ".." segment is removed, along with the segment that precedes it (e.g., foo/../all.html is the same as all.html, and ../ refers to the parent "directory" level in the URL hierarchy).
Some examples may help make this clear. If the base document is <URL:http://www.yoursite.com/faq/html/basics.html>, then
all.html and ./all.html
refer to <URL:http://www.yoursite.com/faq/html/all.html>
./
refers to <URL:http://www.yoursite.com/faq/html/>
../
refers to <URL:http://www.yoursite.com/faq/>
../cgifaq.html
refers to <URL:http://www.yoursite.com/faq/cgifaq.html>
../../reference/
refers to <URL:http://www.yoursite.com/reference/>
Please note that the browser resolves relative URLs, not the server. The server sees only the resulting absolute URL. Also, relative URLs navigate the URL hierarchy. The relationship (if any) between the URL hierarchy and the server's filesystem hierarchy is irrelevant.
Ques 17. Can I use percentage values for <TD WIDTH=...>?
The HTML 3.2 and HTML 4.0 specifications allow only integer values (representing a number of pixels) for the WIDTH attribute of the TD element. However, the HTML 4.0 DTD allows percentage (and other non-integer) values, so an HTML validator will not complain about <TD WIDTH="xx%">.
It should be noted that Netscape and Microsoft's browsers interpret percentage values for <TD WIDTH=...> differently. However, their interpretations (and those of other table-aware browsers) happen to match when combined with <TABLE WIDTH="100%">. In such situations, percentage values can be used relatively safely, even though they are prohibited by the public specifications.
Ques 18. How do I create a link that sends me email?
Use a mailto link, for example
Ques 19. How can I have two sets of links with different colors?
You can suggest this presentation in a style sheet. First, specify colors for normal links, like this:
a:link {color: blue; background: white}
a:visited {color: purple; background: white}
a:active {color: red; background: white}
Next, identify the links that you want to have different colors. You can use the CLASS attribute in your HTML, like this:
<a class="example1" href="[URL]">[link text]</a>
Then, in your style sheet, use a selector for links with this CLASS attribute, like this:
a.example1:link {color: yellow; background: black}
a.example1:visited {color: white; background: black}
a.example1:active {color: red; background: black}
Alternatively, you can identify an element that contains the links that you want to have different colors, like this:
<div class="example2">...
<a href="[URL]">[link text]</a>...
<a href="[URL]">[link text]</a>...
<a href="[URL]">[link text]</a>...
</div>
Then, in your style sheet, use a selector for links in this containing element, like this:
.example2 a:link {color: yellow; background: black}
.example2 a:visited {color: white; background: black}
.example2 a:active {color: red; background: black}
Most helpful rated by users:
- What is HTML?
- What is the simplest HTML page?
- What is a tag?
- How can I include comments in HTML?
- How do I create a link that sends me email?