Devising a test for a Web Developer

Question

I need to devise a test for web developers.
This test should screen both good grasp of the DOM and manipulating it and Good skills in designing scalable and efficient DB and server side code, And to salt it a bit with web specific problems (like translating from one encoding to another, clean input-security).
And best of all, cram it into 3 hours.

Answer 1

A company called Red Snapper has a test for applicants. Perhaps you can look into it and see if you can't find things there that can help you.

Answer 2

It sounds like you already know exactly what you want to test the developer on... why don't you just make him create a small website that includes some of the ideas you have already suggested. However, in 3 hours it's unlikely you'll get the full experience of any developer.

You could use something like a message queuing system, as that should be simple enough, where any user can post messages that have to be accepted by an administrator - and once accepted are displayed on the page.

This example may seem ultra-trivial, but a lot goes into something this simple: database input sanitation, database creation, managing sessions, proper authentication and authorization, Ajax if you want it, proper separation of business logic from presentation, etc.

Basically, keep the test simple if it's a 3 hour venture.