Often while coding view templates in html, my habit of adding some helpful comments causes lots of time-consuming effort while testing.
Consider this code…
<!-- Here starts the sidebar -->
<div id="sidebar">
....
</div>
<!-- Here starts the main contents pane -->
<div id="main-contents">
...
</div>
<!-- Here starts the footer -->
<div id="footer">
...
</div>
Now, if I have to hide out some portion of the view template, in case of php I would just select the desired code and put single-line comments (using a shortcut key most of the times).
However, in html code, where only the block comments work, I end-up removing all the closing comment tags (–>) till the position I want the commenting to occur – something like this…
<!-- Here starts the sidebar
<div id="sidebar">
....
</div>
<!-- Here starts the main contents pane
<div id="main-contents">
...
</div>
<!-- Here starts the footer
<div id="footer">
...
</div>-->
Then when I'm done testing I have to go through the agony of putting back those closing tags.
Is there a better and time saving way of block commenting in HTML?
Best Answer
Yes, to comment structural metadata out,
Using <script>/* ... */</script> in .html
Comment out large sections of HTML (Comment Out Block)
my personal way in a .html file is opening:
<script>/*
and close it with*/</script>
<script>/* hiding code go here */</script>
Is a workaround to the problem since is not HTML.
Considering your code in .html...
And in a case is HTML inside PHP file using comment tag
<?/*
or<?php /*
and close it with*/?>
. Remember that the file must be .php extension and don't work in .html.<?/* hiding code go here */?>
Considering your code in .php...
Is worth nothing that is not HTML but a common developer practice is to comment out parts of metadata so that it will not be rendered and/or executed in the browser. In HTML, commenting out multiple lines can be time-consuming. It is useful to exclude pieces of template structural metadata containing comments, CSS or code and systematically commenting out to find the source of an error. It is considered a bad practice to comment blocks out and it is recommended to use a version control system. The attribute "type" is required in HTML4 and optional in HTML5.