Continuing in the vein of “the obvious ones are often overlooked,” here’s another quick productivity tip!

When you want to type a comment in a PHP or CSS file, speed things up a little by using the / and * keys on the numeric keypad. On (most) laptops, hold down the Function (Fn) key to access the overlaid numeric keypad.

Back when I used to use a full-size keyboard, I would use the / and * keys on the numeric keypad to quickly insert comments into my PHP or CSS. It was so much quicker than using / and Shift+8 keystrokes.

When problems with RSI last year encouraged me to switch to using a compact keyboard, I missed that shortcut. However, I quickly realised that I could hold down the Function (Fn) key on my new keyboard to quickly access the overlaid numeric keypad.

I recently bought myself a MacBook Pro and have just figured out that I can do the same thing. Holding down Function (Fn) allows me to access the numeric keypad and my quick way of typing comments. Yay!