What is website annotation?

Website annotation means leaving notes directly on a web page. Instead of writing "the second button on the pricing page looks off" in an email, you click the button and write your note there.

Think of comments in a Google Doc, but on any website.

How it works

Most website annotation tools are browser extensions. They add a thin layer on top of the page you're viewing, so you can point at an element and attach a note to it. The website itself doesn't change. The notes live in your account and appear for you and whoever you share them with.

Good tools do a few extra things.

• They anchor the note to the element, so it stays put when the layout shifts a little.
• They save a screenshot, so you still know what you meant after the page changes.
• They let people reply, mention each other and mark notes as resolved.
• They group notes so you can find them again later.

Who uses it

• Marketing teams reviewing landing pages and launches.
• Designers checking the built site against the design.
• Developers and QA reporting bugs with the exact element.
• Product teams auditing flows in their own app.
• Researchers collecting notes on competitor sites.
• Anyone saving the best parts of pages they find, instead of bookmarking the whole page.

Annotation vs screenshots vs bookmarks

A screenshot is a copy of the page at one moment. It needs cropping, describing and sending, and it doesn't link back to the real page.

A bookmark saves the address of the whole page, but not what you liked about it or why. We wrote about that in bookmarks save the whole page.

An annotation sits on the exact part of the real page, with your note, a screenshot and the discussion attached.