commenting code (was Re: [thelist] Tip)

[Scott Dexter]

> PS Maybe you don't want to do this on a corporate site, but I 
> personally like the way sites like http://www.alistapart.com/ are 
> commented, with curses at Netscape and so forth.

I would suggest not commenting like that at all. An example,

"<!-- Thus endeth the branding. Begin content. The following table embraces
the rest of the page. May our readers do likewise. -->"

*puke*

Couple things:

1) verbosity == file size == page load. Comments are good, but c'mon people,
make them to the point, as they affect how quickly the browser can render
the page. This includes server side comments as well (ASP, CF). The
client/server parsing engine has to parse comments and code alike. Don't go
nuts with verbosity

2) How much self-love (putting it nicely) can we take?! Who gives a rat's
ass what they would like the reader to do?

As far as I'm concerned, the above example should be

<!--     BEGIN CONTENT     -->

and f*ing end it at that.

sheesh.
sgd