Questions
2 of 6
1What is HTML, and what is its purpose?
2What is the meaning of markup language?
3Is HTML case sensitive?
4Explain the structure of a basic HTML document.
5What is the difference between <head> and <body>?
6What are void (self-closing) elements in HTML?
HTMLHTML
Basics
Common Tags
Attributes and Elements
Lists
Text tags and Formatting
Input and Forms
Block and Inline Elements
Box model
Semantic Tags
Links and Images
Media and Embeds
Tables
HTML entities
HTML and CSS
Performance
SEO
Progressive Enhancement
HTML5
Custom Elements & Web Components
HTML5 APIs
SPAs
WCAG
Security
Best Practices
02 / 06

What is the meaning of markup language?

Understanding Markup Language

A markup language is a system for annotating or structuring text in a way that describes its meaning, presentation, or structure. These annotations are added using special tags or symbols, which are not displayed directly to the user but help software (such as web browsers) interpret and render the content correctly.

Markup languages are not programming languages because they do not include logic or computation; instead, they focus on formatting, organizing, and defining the meaning of content. HTML, XML, and Markdown are common examples of markup languages.

Key Characteristics of a Markup Language
  1. 1

    Uses tags or symbols to define structure and meaning of text.

  2. 2

    Separates content from presentation in many cases.

  3. 3

    Does not perform computations like a programming language.

  4. 4

    Can describe both document structure (HTML) and data (XML).

  5. 5

    Helps software interpret, organize, and display information properly.

Difficulty: 2/10
Topics: HTML basics, semantic markup, document structure

Scenario Questions

0-2 years experience
  1. 1

    If you need to create a simple product page with a title, image, and description, how would you structure the HTML markup?

  2. 2

    What happens if you forget to close a tag in an HTML document? How does the browser handle it?

  3. 3

    How would you add a hyperlink to an external site using HTML markup?

2-5 years experience
  1. 1

    We have a page where a list of articles is rendered, but the styling broke after a recent change. How would you debug whether the issue is due to incorrect markup versus CSS?

  2. 2

    When converting a legacy HTML4 page to HTML5, what markup changes would you consider and why?

  3. 3

    If you need to embed a video and ensure accessibility, what markup elements and attributes would you use?

5-8 years experience
  1. 1

    Our documentation platform serves millions of pages. How would you design the HTML templating pipeline to ensure consistent, valid markup while allowing teams to customize components?

  2. 2

    We notice that crawlers are misinterpreting some of our page sections. How would you refactor the markup to improve SEO and semantic clarity at scale?

  3. 3

    When implementing a component library, how do you decide between using custom elements (Web Components) versus standard HTML tags for encapsulation and performance?

8+ years experience
  1. 1

    Our company is migrating a monolithic web app built on outdated HTML to a modern component‑driven architecture. What strategy would you propose for incrementally replacing markup while minimizing risk?

  2. 2

    Across multiple product teams, there are divergent conventions for markup (e.g., class naming, data attributes). How would you establish a cross‑team markup standard and enforce it at the organization level?

  3. 3

    If we need to support both legacy browsers and modern ones, how would you balance the use of new HTML5 features versus polyfills or fallback markup in a large‑scale rollout?

Follow-up Questions

  • ❓Can you walk me through how the browser builds the DOM from HTML?
  • ❓Why is semantic markup important for accessibility and SEO?
  • ❓How would you decide when to use a custom data attribute versus a standard attribute?