CSS INTERVIEW
QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
Important CSS questions and answers for
front-end developer technical interview
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CSS INTERVIEW QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
What is CSS?
CSS (Cascading Style Sheet) is a simple design language used to
describe the look and formatting of a document written in a
markup Language. It is combined with markup languages i.e.
HTML & XHTML.
Using CSS we can change the color of the text, font styling,
layout designs, add/ reduce spacing, add different effects for
different devices and screen sizes and many more formatting.
What is Stylesheet?
A stylesheet is used to build a consistent, transportable and
well-designed style template. It describes the look and
formatting of the document.
What is the latest version of CSS?
CSS basically consists of many drafts for upcoming Standards.
CSS3 is the latest version of CSS. It helps you to control the
styling of the website.
Explain the new features in CSS3.
CSS basically consists of many drafts for upcoming Standards.
CSS3 includes some new features like New Selectors, CSS
Variables and functions, Gradients, Opacity, Transitions,
Transformation, Animations, FlexBox, Grid, and Media Queries.
Explain Different Types of Selectors
CSS selectors are used to find the particular HTML element
which you want to style or represent it in a different form.
CSS Selectors consist of different types:
1. Universal Selector - It is denoted using (*) in CSS. It sets the
particular style for all the HTML elements within the HTML
page.
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CSS INTERVIEW QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
2. Element type Selector - The element selector selects a
particular HTML tag/element from your document. This may
include <p>, <span>, <strong> etc.
3. Id Selector - The id selector is denoted with (#) character
followed by the Id of the element. It can be used only once
per page, as elements consist of a single Id value. It selects an
element that has an Id set on it.
4. Class Selector - The Class selector is denoted with (.)
character followed by the class name of the element. It is
used to select all the elements with a particular Class name.
It sets a particular style for several HTML elements.
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CSS INTERVIEW QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
5. Grouping Selector - Grouping Selector helps us to assign
the same style definitions to different HTML elements. This
helps in minimising our code and reduces a lot of effort
rather than re-writing.
Tell me the difference between inline-block, block, and
inline
1. block-level element starts with their own new line and takes
space for an entire row.
Example - <div>, <p>
2. inline-block begins on the same line, except they have
padding and margins on all 4 sides.
3. Inline also begins on the same line itself and it has content
or tags before or after it.
Example - <a>, <span>
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What are the different types of CSS frameworks are
used by the developers?
1. Tailwind CSS
2. BootStrap
3. Foundation
4. Bulma
5. UI Kit
6. Skeleton
7. Pure
How you can include CSS in the webpage?
There are 3 ways to include CSS in the webpage.
1. External CSS
2. Internal CSS
3. Inline CSS
1. External CSS - External CSS is defined using <link> element
within <head> section. Whenever we have to make multiple
changes in pages we make use of External CSS.
2. Internal CSS - Internal CSS is defined using <style> element
within <head> section. It helps us to design a single HTML
page and change the style of the web page within HTML
code.
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3. Inline CSS - Inline CSS is much more different than
External and Internal CSS. It directly affects the tag in which
CSS is written. It applies the unique style to a particular HTML
element.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of an
external stylesheet?
Advantages:
1. The style of several documents can be organised from a
single file.
2. Methods like selector and grouping can be implemented to
apply styles.
3. Multiple HTML elements can have several different
documents, where classes can be created.
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Disadvantages:
1. External documents need to be imported that carry different
styles information.
2. To render your document you need to load external CSS first.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of an
embedded stylesheet?
Advantages:
Classes can be created to use on various HTML tag types in
the document.
Selector and grouping methods can be used to apply styles
under complex contexts
No additional downloads necessary to receive style
information
Disadvantages:
This method can not control styles for multiple documents
at once
Explain gradient with example
CSS Gradient basically represents a transition between two or
more colors. It is a very important aspect to beautify and add
them to your content.
There are 3 types of Gradient:
1. Linear Gradient - In linear Gradient, the color flows from left
to right, top-to-bottom, or at any angle you chose in a single
direction.
2. Radial Gradient - Radial Gradient starts at a single point and
is defined from the center position.
3. Conic Gradient - In Conic Gradient transition is rotated
around a center point. To create a conic gradient at least 2
colors need to be defined.
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How to override the existing CSS of the element?
To override CSS properties of an element we make use of
!important directive. Hence it gives the highest precedence and
it overrides the cascaded property.
Explain vh and vw.
1. vh stands for “viewport height”, which is the viewable
screen’s height. 100VH would represent 100% of the
viewport’s height, or the full height of the screen.
2. vw stands for “viewport width”, which is the viewable
screen’s width. 100VW would represent 100% of the
viewport’s width, or the full width of the screen.
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CSS INTERVIEW QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
How to set the background image to div?
To set the background image to div element “background-
image” CSS property is used. This property can be specified to
any HTML element. We just have to provide a path to the image
in url() value.
How to hide elements using CSS?
There are 2 forms in CSS through which we can hide elements.
1. display-none: This removes the entire element from the
Webpage.
2. visibility-hidden: This hides the element but the particular
space is allocated to it.
How to center the div in the webpage?
In HTML there are many ways to center the div in the webpage
but the most efficient way is by setting the display property to
“flex” and then defining the align-item and justify-content
property to “center”.
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CSS INTERVIEW QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Explain the various positioning properties
In CSS the position property defines how an element is
positioned in the document:
1. Position Absolute: In this, the element will be positioned
relative to its closest positioned ancestor.
2. Position Relative: In this, the element will be positioned
relative to its original position.
3. Position Static: In this, the element is positioned according
to the normal flow of the document. It considers the default
value.
4. Position Fixed: In this, the element is positioned relative to
the browser window. It stays in the same place even though
the window is been scrolled.
5. Position Sticky: In this, the position is based upon the user’s
scroll position. It is the hybrid of relative and fixed
positioning. The element is treated as relative positioned
until it comes to a specified threshold, at which point it is
treated as fixed positioned.
What are mixins?
Mixin is a directive that lets you create CSS code that is reusable
throughout the entire website. It allows defining patterns of
property value pairs.
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What is CSS Pre-processor?
A CSS Preprocessor is a tool used to extend the basic
functionality of the default Vanilla CSS through its own Scripting
Language.
1. SCSS - Syntactically Awesome Style Sheet is the superset of
CSS. SCSS is the more advanced version of CSS. Due to its
advanced features, it is often termed Sassy CSS. SCSS have
file extension of .scss.
2. LESS is a CSS preprocessor that enables customizable,
manageable, and reusable style sheets for websites. LESS is
a dynamic style sheet language that has the capability to
extend CSS.
3. Stylus is a dynamic stylesheet preprocessor language
compiled into Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). Its design is
influenced by Sass and LESS.
How we can give the same style to all elements?
To apply the same style to all the elements, we use “ * “ i.e.
Universal Selector. It is used to set a particular style for all the
HTML elements within the HTML page.
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CSS INTERVIEW QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Name the different types of media types.
CSS includes different types of media types but among them
the most common are:
1. All - This media type is used for all media type devices.
2. Print - This media type is basically used for printers.
3. Screen - This media type is used for computer screens,
tablets, smartphones, etc.
4. Screen - This media type is used for screen readers who read
the page.
As a front-end developer, how would you improve
website performance?
1. Compressing and utilising lazy loading for image
optimization: We can use TinyPNG to compress images and
LazyLoad to delay the loading of images until they are
required. This decreases load time and reduces bandwidth
usage.
2. Reducing file sizes by minifying and bundling code. Using
tools such as Webpack: for instance, you can bundle
JavaScript and CSS files and remove unnecessary characters.
This reduces HTTP requests and speeds up page loading.
3. By combining resources into a single file and utilising
caching: we can reduce HTTP requests. We can use Gzip to
compress files, CSS sprites to combine them, and browser
caching to store resources on the client's machine.
4. Enable compression and implement a CDN to optimise the
server: Use tools such as NGINX to enable compression and a
CDN such as Cloudflare to cache content closer to the user.
This decreases latency and increases load speed.
5. Utilize performance monitoring tools such as Google
Lighthouse to assess and identify improvement
opportunities. This provides insights into best practises and
optimizations for enhancing website performance and user
experience.
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CSS INTERVIEW QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
What is the difference between padding and margin?
Both margin and padding are used to create space around
elements in CSS, but they function differently.
Padding is the space between the content and the border of an
element. It is used to expand the content area of an element.
Margin is the space between an element's border and
surrounding elements. It is utilised to separate elements and
control the layout of a page.
Padding affects the interior of an element, whereas margin
affects its exterior.
Outer Element or Layout
Padding
Content
Margin Element(div,span,p,etc)
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What is z-index and why it is used?
z-index is a CSS property that controls the vertical stacking
order of elements on a web page.
It specifies the order in which elements are stacked on top of
each other, with higher values appearing on top of lower values.
z-index: 2
z-index: 3
z-index: 2
z-index: 3
z-index: 4
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CSS INTERVIEW QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
What is responsive design and how do you create it?
Responsive web design is a way to make websites that look
good and work well on many different devices and screen sizes.
This is done by designing and coding the site so that its layout,
images, and other parts change automatically to fit the size of
the screen being used to view it.
This method improves the user experience and makes it easier
for everyone to interact with the content, no matter what device
they are using.
Important steps to create responsive web design:
1. Define the viewport: Start by adding a meta tag to the HTML
head to set the viewport, ensuring that the page is displayed
correctly on different devices. Use <meta name="viewport"
content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">.
2. Use flexbox and CSS Grid: Use layout techniques like flexbox
and CSS Grid to make more complex responsive layouts, as
they give you more flexibility and control than traditional
float-based layouts.
3. Use CSS media queries: to use different styles depending on
the size of the screen, the device's resolution, or other factors.
This gives you the ability to change the design for certain
breakpoints.
4. Use fluid grids: Instead of fixed pixel widths, make layouts
with relative units like percentages or viewport units (vw, vh).
This will make the layout change itself depending on the size
of the screen.
5. Choose a desktop-first or mobile-first strategy: You can
start designing for smaller screens (called "mobile-first") or
bigger screens (desktop-first). Mobile-first is usually
recommended because it makes layouts simpler and puts
the most important content first.
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CSS INTERVIEW QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Explain about overflow property.
With CSS's "overflow" property, you can control how content
acts when it goes outside of its container.
In other words, the overflow property tells how the content
inside an element should be shown when the content is bigger
than the element itself.
There are four common values for the overflow property:
1. visible: This is the default value. When content exceeds the
limits of its container, it still remains visible and does not
disappear.
2. hidden: Any content that exceeds the container's boundaries
is hidden and inaccessible to the user when this value is set.
3. scroll: This value adds scrollbars to the container, allowing the
user to scroll through the content even if it does not overflow.
4. auto: This value provides a more dynamic approach by adding
scrollbars to the container only if the content overflows its
boundaries.
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How to animate the element using CSS?
Animating an element using CSS involves changing the
element's properties over time, such as its position, size, or
opacity.
There are two main ways to do this: using keyframes and using
transitions.
Keyframes allow you to define specific points in time in an
animation and specify how the element should look at each
point.
Each keyframe is defined as a percentage of the total animation
time, from 0% (the starting point) to 100% (the ending point).
You can then specify which CSS properties should be changed
at each keyframe, as in the following example:
the animation changes the element's opacity and position
over 2 seconds
keyframe name
The animation repeats infinitely, alternating between forward and
backward directions.
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Transitions, on the other hand, allow you to specify which
properties of an element should change, as well as the duration
and timing of the animation.
They work on the principle of changing a property from one
state to another state over time, as in the following example:
Animation changes width, height and
color over 2 seconds on hover
What is the difference between em and rem?
Both em and rem are units of measurement in CSS. They are
used to define the size of the typographic elements like font-size
or padding.
1.EM:
The percentage of em is relative to the font-size of the parent
element.
For example, if the font-size of the parent element is 16px, and
the font-size of the child element is set to 1.5em, then the child
element font-size will be calculated as 24px. EM is more
commonly used in typography.
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CSS INTERVIEW QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
2. REM:
REM stands for Root EM, meaning it's relative to the root
element of the page (usually HTML).
It takes the font-size of the root element as a reference and sets
the size accordingly. REM is typically used in layout and sizing.
For instance, let's say you want to create a container that will
occupy 50% width of the window. If you set the width to 50rem,
it will occupy 50% of the width of the viewport.
Key differences:
EM is relative to the parent element size, while REM is
relative to the root element size.
EM's value changes based on its parent element, and REM's
value changes only once, based on the root element.
When to use EM or REM?
EMs are more useful for relative font size scaling. They allow for
easier changes to fonts throughout a design.
On the other hand, REMs are a better option if you need to size-
up structural elements like margins or padding based on the
root font-size.
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What are pseudo classes and elements?
Pseudo-classes: These are special keywords added to selectors
in CSS, changing the element during specific states.
1. :hover: Activated when you place your cursor over an
element.
2. :active: Activated when you click an element.
3. :visited: Applied to links that the user has already visited.
4. :focus: Applied when an element is selected, like clicking an
input field.
Changes link color on hover
Changes background color on
button click
Changes visited link color
Outlines an input field when it's
selected
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Pseudo-elements: These let you style unique parts of elements.
1. ::first-letter: Styles the first letter of a text block.
2. ::first-line: Styles the first line of a block of text.
3. ::before: Inserts content before an element's content.
4. ::after: Inserts content after an element's content.
Makes the first letter of a
paragraph twice big
Changes the background color of
the first line of a paragraph
Inserts a quote before the
content
Inserts content after a
paragraph
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What is the difference between Flexbox and CSS Grid?
Flexbox, is a layout model that is one-dimensional.
This means it manages layout in a line, which can be either a
row or a column, but not both at once.
Flexbox is like having a row of pictures that you need to arrange
on a table. You can decide how to spread these pictures —
grouped, evenly spaced, or aligned to a side.
It's ideal for managing items in a single line.
Grid Layout is a two-dimensional layout system, allowing you to
handle both columns and rows simultaneously.
Think of it as a chessboard, where you can arrange pieces both
horizontally (rows) and vertically (columns).
This makes Grid Layout ideal for complex layouts involving
multiple rows and columns.
Flexbox CSS Grid
One dimensional Two dimensional
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