--- title: "10 CSS & JavaScript Snippets for Beautiful Syntax Highlighting" id: "98956" type: "post" slug: "snippets-beautiful-syntax-highlighting" published_at: "2021-05-16T19:30:41+00:00" modified_at: "2025-02-05T09:05:02+00:00" url: "https://speckyboy.com/snippets-beautiful-syntax-highlighting/" markdown_url: "https://speckyboy.com/snippets-beautiful-syntax-highlighting.md" excerpt: "If you write many coding articles or need to add code onto your landing page, then these free CSS and JS code snippets are what you need." taxonomy_category: - "CSS" - "JavaScript" - "UI Design" taxonomy_post_tag: - "CSS Snippets" - "Syntax Highlighting" - "UI Components" --- # 10 CSS & JavaScript Snippets for Beautiful Syntax Highlighting Last Update: February 5, 2025 By Jake Rocheleau [CSS](https://speckyboy.com/category/css/) / [JavaScript](https://speckyboy.com/category/javascript/) / [UI Design](https://speckyboy.com/category/ui/) We’re all familiar with desktop coding applications and web IDEs. They all feature syntax highlighting to make writing code & debugging easier. But did you know that you can take that same syntax coloring and add that to your web content? Granted, not everyone writes about code or has code snippets in their blog posts. But if you *do* write a lot of coding articles or need to add code snippets onto your landing page, then you’ll enjoy these CSS and JavaScript code highlighting solutions. **If you’re looking for syntax highlighter plugins for WordPress, take a look at [this post](https://speckyboy.com/free-wordpress-plugin-display-edit-code/) .** hr> ## 1. Angular Source Code Boxes Here’s a pretty cool snippet created by Andrew Archibald built entirely on Angular.js. All of these sample code boxes have tabs much as you would find with CodePen’s embeds. But you can add this type of code into your page **without any embeds**, all handled through CSS for styling. This would reduce HTTP requests over embedding, and this gives you far more control over the type of syntax you’re using. I’ll admit the tabs are pretty darn cool and this uses the [angular-highlight](https://github.com/pc035860/angular-highlightjs) library for syntax support across dozens of languages. ## 2. 
 Tag Style

Here’s a much more detailed example for developers writing lengthy tutorials and sharing massive code snippets.

This code styling project works with two features: a left-hand vertical bar with line numbers or a full-page [dark background](https://speckyboy.com/black-web-design/)
 for the sample code.

You can restyle the color choices however you want with just a little bit of jQuery. Not to mention there’s a bunch of variety here to match any website layout.

## 3. Textarea Tabs

So here’s a really unique project developed by Ashley Ktorou showing what you can do with a simple textarea.

Coders on the web need to enter the code somewhere. A textarea is the perfect element to handle that.

Yet, with this snippet, you’ll find a custom textarea with highlighting **along with custom tabs** and a fullscreen feature. Not to mention this all works with basic CSS & JS code.

Pretty crazy that we can build code editors right in the browser nowadays.

## 4. CSS-Only Line Numbers

This dynamic syntax element is actually very simple. But it’s because of this simplicity that it really deserves a spot in this list.

With this code, you can add dynamic line numbers automatically into your snippet blocks. You don’t need to hard-code the numbers, and they’ll adjust regardless of how many lines of code you add.

I think this can work well for a blog with many code snippets in-between the writing.

And it’s one of the few examples here that uses a lighter background with darker text.

## 5. Bootstrap Syntax Highlighting w/ Tabs

Looking to add a syntax highlighting feature alongside [Bootstrap](https://speckyboy.com/free-bootstrap-framework-templates/)
? Then you’ve stumbled onto the perfect pen by developer Kijan Maharjan.

This lets you add a tabbed widget to your page that contains many different styles for syntax highlighting.

You pick the colors with the [code-prettify library](https://github.com/googlearchive/code-prettify)
 and setup the entire design with small edits in CSS.

## 6. Syntax Highlighting Demo

Here’s a very cool highlighting demo supporting a wide array of languages to pick from.

Each language has its own design style and color scheme, but you can also edit these on your own with a bit of CSS.

You’ll find some homogenous options inside more basic snippets like the JSON example embedded above. Yet, this still offers variety, and the design is simple enough to match any layout.

## 7. Prism.js Demo

The free [Prism.js script](https://prismjs.com/)
 is one of the best open source solutions for syntax highlighting. It’s used by massive design blogs like Smashing Magazine and it’s freely available for any use case.

But if you want to dive into Prism without much code, you can study this snippet created by Bram de Haan.

From that code, you’ll find a very lightweight setup that you can copy and re-style to match your site. It uses zebra striping and a [custom scrollbar](https://speckyboy.com/scrolling-web-design/)
 to really stand out from other elements on the page.

## 8. Pure CSS Code Editor

Okay so the name on this is a tad misleading. It’s not *technically* a code editor you can use that just runs on CSS.

But this snippet is still wildly impressive.

It’s a static code IDE interface re-created using just HTML and CSS.

You probably won’t find much use for something like this on your website. But the code styles might inspire you to clone a similar design for your own snippets.

## 9. Syntax Coloring

Super simple and super basic describes this snippet created by Michaël Germini.

If you want to avoid creating your own syntax highlighting from scratch, this pen is for you. It uses a clean white background with bright text, and it’s a nice starting template.

Keep in mind this is **super basic** so you’ll need to spend a bit of time editing the style to match your site.

## 10. Code Guide

In this free code guide by Jo Dahl you can see how these syntax highlighting blocks get used in a real-world scenario.

The guide takes you through HTML & CSS with a very clean [grid-style layout](https://speckyboy.com/common-website-layouts-css-grid/)
. The snippets look phenomenal, and they have a color scheme to grab your attention without being obtrusive to the reading experience.

Keep this design in mind if you’re creating a blog or website that features code snippets.

## Related Articles

- [8 CSS & JavaScript Snippets for Adding Scroll Effects to Your Website](https://speckyboy.com/scroll-effects-utilities-css-js-snippets/) A fantastic collection of CSS and JavaScript scrolling effect code snippets that will wow your visitors and steer clear of being obtrusive.
- [A Long Time Ago: Code Snippets Inspired by Star Wars](https://speckyboy.com/a-long-time-ago-code-snippets-inspired-by-star-wars/) A collection of Star Wars-inspired code snippets, including characters, quotes, games, and even the opening crawl. May the 4th be with you!
- [8 CSS Code Snippets for Creating Stunning Border Effects](https://speckyboy.com/css-border-effects/) We share a collection of pure CSS border effects that prove that web designers should no longer have to settle for a basic design.
- [8 CSS & JavaScript Snippets for Background Noise Effects](https://speckyboy.com/css-javascript-snippets-noise-effects/) Items such as text, images, and backgrounds can all be beautifully enhanced with these CSS & JavaScript noise effect code snippets.
- [8 CSS & JavaScript Snippets for Unique Cursor Effects](https://speckyboy.com/css-javascript-cursor-effects/) A collection of eight CSS & JavaScript copy & paste code snippets for creating unique and highly creative cursor effects.

## Related Topics

- [CSS Snippets](https://speckyboy.com/topic/css-snippet/)
- [Syntax Highlighting](https://speckyboy.com/topic/syntax-highlight/)
- [UI Components](https://speckyboy.com/topic/ui-components/)

## Written by Jake Rocheleau

**Jake Rocheleau** is a passionate web designer and social media entrepreneur. He is frequently researching the latest trends in digital design and new-age Internet ideas. He's also an advocate for the social media revolution - follow his updates on Twitter @jakerocheleau.

[Read more articles by Jake Rocheleau](https://speckyboy.com/author/jakerocheleau/)

---

Top

This page may contain affiliate links. At no extra cost to you, we may earn a commission from any purchase via the links on our site. You can [read our Disclosure Policy](https://speckyboy.com/affiliate-disclosure/)
 at any time.