Getting "--> ;" on front page after editing custom html.tpl file
it is probably stemming from this line:

&lt;!-- &lt;?php print $scripts; ?&gt; --&gt; 


&lt;!-- --&gt; is a commenting system for HTML, but the item you are trying to comment out is php, which uses a different method for commenting.

you would use the html commenting around html elements:

&lt;!-- &lt;div&gt;Hello World!&lt;/div&gt; --&gt;


whereas for php:

&lt;?php //print $scripts; ?&gt;


or

&lt;?php /*print $scripts;*/ ?&gt;


would be appropriate.