HTML and CSS: Programming Comments
Overview
Comments written in code by developers provide a way to explain the purpose and function of that code. Since the code will need to be maintained and will change, comments can serve as reminders, 'to do' lists, code snippets, and notes for potential improvement during development. Comments are not processed or displayed to the user in the rendered document in HTML or CSS. Comments can be placed in any available white space.
"A CSS comment is used to add explanatory notes to the code or to prevent the browser from interpreting specific parts of the style sheet. By design, comments have no effect on the layout of a document. Comments can be placed wherever white space is allowed within a style sheet. They can be used on a single line, or traverse multiple lines." - MDN
Prepare
- HTML comments are not rendered in the browser.
Here is an HTML comment syntax example:
Reference: HTML Comments - MDN<!-- This is an HTML comment -->
- CSS comments have no effect on the layout or presentation of a document.
Here is a CSS comment syntax example:
Reference: CSS Comments - MDN/* This is a comment */
- Use comments in your learning activities and assignments to remind yourself of things you want to reference or document for future use. While these comments are for your personal use, keep in mind that organizations may have specific commenting requirements given many developers might work on a project over its lifetime.
- The concept of comments is also used in your
git
commits which, are especially useful for tracking revision history and providing context to your commits for your development team.
Activity Instructions
- Open any HTML or CSS document in VS Code.
- Use
ctrl+/
(⌘+/
) to comment out the line of code where you cursor is currently located or lines of code that you have selected. - Pressing
ctrl+/
again will toggle the commented out line(s) of code.