What should be the top 10 CSS and HTML questions to ask an interviewee? To test his level of knowledge if interviewee mentioned 2 yrs. experience in XHTML and CSS.
Edit:
how we can know interviewee's cross browser layout making capability? My question is only related to xhtml css coding not about design ability
These should be more than plenty to see how much candidate knows about browsers, standards and the reasoning behind HTML and CSS. Maybe you could throw in some floats, positioning and similar stuff if you want to test detailed CSS knowledge.
Update: The point is the kind of answer you are going to get, of course. If you ask about margin and padding and you get a clean drawing of box content, added padding, border line and margin, possibly collapsing against another box, you know the guy knows what he is talking about. Same goes for all the other questions.
No amount of questions in a short interview would establish a person's skill level. And there is the question of innovative qualities of a person which may not reveal itself in an interview. Some people may be introverted and shy or suffer from interview jitters others may be smooth talkers with little substance. There is also the challenge of asking objective questions not opinions.
If I show up for an audition to join a symphonic orchestra and tell them I have been playing the violin for 20 years they will not ask me about the construction of the bridge or the best material for bow strings. They give me a music score and ask me to play.
I suggest creating a simple web page that requires the techniques mentioned in the answers above, showing it to the candidate and asking the candidate to re-produce it in 30 minutes using the notepad. This will sort out the experienced from the novice.
Some of these are the same as zoul's questions except from a slightly different angle - I was aiming for questions that would lead to a bit of a discussion.
Apart from HTML/CSS/JS specific or problem-solving questions, I would also ask what sort of tools she/he is using to get a task done. It often gives good insights about 'how' someone works and gives good/relaxed room for discussion. Good developers always have good and sharp tools.
Technical
Ask the person to make a simple page with a header, a two column layout, and a footer with each column having a different background color extending to the footer. Get them to flip the columns around on completion.
A couple of questions that are tricky.
How do absolutes affect the flow?
How do floats affect the flow?
(they don't)
What are two practical difference between a relative and static?
Determine their interest in CSS and HTML with 'What is the semantic web and why is it important?' People should be able to speak with enthusiasm about bring information to the blind for example. People who really work in HTML and CSS and know their stuff tend to be quite passionate about how information is there for all.
IMO, Cross browser issues are becoming less important now as more people are using modern browsers that obey standards.
Ask about their interest in design. A good sense of design concepts tends to be important when working in a team - a programmer with a sense of design can communicate why such a design may not work well within a website and can explain better some of the limitations.
Ask: what do you think of flash :-)
Odd no one mentioned this yet...
Since the person claims to have two years of experience, they should have something to show for it - so ask to see recent works. Even if some of their work was internal or protected by NDA or such, if they are any good, they ought to have something they've done just to try out new things or such.
I believe real examples would be the best gauge for actual skill in this case. People can easily learn various details about HTML and CSS, but being able to apply them is a totally different matter. It should also demonstrate their ability to write cross-browser compatible code (Just open their examples in IE, FF, Opera, Safari/Chrome)
I've taken a number of tests over the past couple of years and in all honesty there are really no questions one can ask to judge how great someone is at coding in HTML and/or CSS.
First, if the interviewee claims to have written web pages over the past couple of years ask for a couple of examples. If possible get him/her to email you them, print them out and get the user to explain and critique everything about them. Completely tear through everything regarding their previous work and get them to explain everything they can about it.
Once this is done, the user should be given a small task involving the development of a web page. Give them a networked computer and clear the history, then give them a couple of web pages to be built over the space of n minutes. Tell them to document what they decide to do and what resources they'll be using and just let them get on with it. After a while check their references and look at the outcome. The user will never be able to perform their best work in such a short time but you'll be able to see how efficient they are by the quality of their work.
Once this is done, give them a broken web page and give them a small amount of time to fix it to the point of it being standards-compliant. This should be an easy task to perform for most given good use of their tools.
It's obviously not an exact science, but a range of these methods have always found suitable candidates for many companies and it seems that a lot of Web Design places rarely ask questions nowadays and will move onto simple practical exercises to ensure that the interviewee can do what is asked of them.
I found some very good question with answers here also.
http://www.evotech.net/blog/2007/05/web-developer-interview-questions/
http://www.evotech.net/blog/2007/05/web-developer-resume-screening/