Best Visual Studio Code Extensions in 2022
Introduction
If you have searched the Internet intending to find the best and most popular desktop code editor, you have probably come across Visual Studio Code many times. After Visual Studio Code appeared, it quickly became number one in this domain. There are several reasons why this happened, and one of those reasons is the use of extensions. Since the topic of this post is related to extensions, we will not deal with other reasons, but we will focus on extensions.
Whether you are a beginner who is just starting to use Visual Studio Code or someone who has the desire to adapt it to their needs, we have singled out a few extensions that will surely be of great use to you when developing new projects in 2022.
Let’s start with the basics needed to develop an application using the Visual Studio Code editor.
You will use curly braces many times when writing code. Visual Studio Code uses a default theme that marks all curly braces the same color. The problem arises when you have a lot of lines of code, which is a common situation, and then it becomes difficult to distinguish which bracket belongs to which block of code.
Bracket Pair Colorizer
Bracket Pair Colorizer is a Visual Studio Code extension that marks the brackets of different blocks of code with different colors so that you can identify which brackets belong to which blocks of code. This is a simple extension that makes a big difference. It makes reading your code easier, not only for you but also for others who will try to read and understand your code.
Visual Studio Code recently has a built-in option that does exactly what Bracket Pair Colorizer does, and you have the ability to adjust all colors. If you prefer to adjust every detail yourself, then this option may be better for you.
Available at: Bracket Pair Colorizer
Reading and understanding code is clearer when we use the Visual Studio Code extension Bracket Pair Colorizer. However, other things make writing and reading code even easier.
Every developer likes to write code in their own way. Some like to put a semicolon everywhere, while others like to put a semicolon only where it is needed. Some like to separate two tab places, while others like to separate four tab places when they start writing a line of code. The tools used for this purpose are called code formatters.
Prettier
The Prettier Visual Studio Code extension is a code formatter that helps you stay consistent in the way you write your code in your unique way. The prettier extension is the most popular when it comes to code formatters. To use it successfully, you need a little adjustment, but after that, it contributes a lot to your work.
Just save the file you are working on and Prettier will do the rest for you. It will format the code according to your settings, check if you left out the semicolon somewhere, and then add it, delete the excess tab space, add the missing one, and much more. After formatting, your code will look meticulously written, which automatically makes it easier to read and understand the code.
If you are interested, you can try the Prettier extension via the following link: Prettier demo
Prettier is not an extension that can only be used with Visual Studio Code but can also be used with other code editors.
Available at: Prettier
When creating projects, things can easily get complicated, and you may end up with a large number of files with different extensions. In the beginning, while we have a small number of files, this is not a problem. However, when we enter the deeper phase of application development, we get a large number of files where the visibility of these files is not so simple and they are harder to find. This problem can be easily solved by using some of the icon extensions.
Visual Studio Code Icons (vscode-icons)
This is a simple extension that brings icons to the Visual Studio Code editor as they do not come installed during installation. Icons contribute to the visibility of the folder and file structure within a project. Special purpose folders have different icons as well as files with different extensions. In addition to the visual appearance, the icons make teamwork easier, make the application development experience more interesting, and shorten the time it takes for a developer to return to a project after a long time. There are also customization options.
In addition to the vscode-icons extension, there are other popular icon extensions such as:
Available at: vscode-icons
Developers during application development, especially front-end developers, like to have the application open in real-time so that all changes can be visually accessible. As a result, you can often see that developers have more than one monitor.
However, for the application to be updated in real-time, you need to configure certain scripts or simply find an extension that will do it for you. Otherwise, the application project would have to be restarted during each change.
Live Server
Live Server the Visual Studio Code extension runs a local application development server that provides live reloads for both static and dynamic pages. Every time you make a certain change in the code and save the file, the changes will be immediately available and visible within the browser. In addition to making it easier to work with, this extension allows you to spot code errors faster and provides the ability to easily and quickly test certain code changes.
Available at: Live Server
Visual Studio Code does a phenomenal job of automatically closing all open tags. The problem arises when it is necessary to rename certain tags, which often happens.
Auto Rename Tag
Auto Rename Tag is a Visual Studio Code extension that allows you to rename open and closed tags at the same time, thus saving a lot of time while writing code.
Visual Studio Code also has a built-in option where the same effect can be achieved. You only need to enable this option because it is disabled by default.
Available at: Auto Rename Tag
For front-end developers, CSS is of great importance. Projects often have a large number of classes and IDs that contain various CSS code blocks, and it can be difficult to find those code blocks.
CSS Peek
CSS Peek is a Visual Studio Code extension that solves the above problem in a way that clicking on any class or ID immediately displays the CSS block of code that is linked. This allows the developer to quickly view the code and directly access the appropriate block if there is a need for changes.
Available at: CSS Peek
Git and GitHub are unavoidable things when it comes to serious projects. Since there are great chances that you will work on projects in teams, using Git within Visual Studio Code will be of great benefit. Visual Studio Code already has a built-in Git usage module that offers basic functionality. Some extensions are more advanced and offer more opportunities for work on serious projects, where it will be necessary to monitor the work of the entire team.
GitLens
GitLens is a great example of an extension that complements Git within the Visual Studio Code Editor. Visually, it helps to distinguish between lines of code by different authors using Git. This extension is great because it helps in understanding the code. It is possible to look at the history of writing codes, and it is possible to conclude who wrote or changed the code, why, and when.
Available at: GitLens
Conclusion
Code editors with extensions became available even before Visual Studio Code. How come some of those editors didn’t become number one? What did Visual Studio Code do differently?
Programs were not usually designed to have many additional extensions, as multiple extensions complicated the operation of the application and increased the number of possible problems. Also, each extension would have to be tested and regularly maintained, which took a lot of time.
Visual Studio Code made extensions an integral part of the application, something like WordPress did. Since it is open-source, there were no problems with ideas for extensions or creating and maintaining them. Everyone has the opportunity to create their own Visual Studio Code extension and participate in upgrading some others if they wish.
Due to this approach, where the user can fully customize, Visual Studio Code is not a classic code editor but a lightweight development environment.
The number of extensions should be kept to a minimum, so it is recommended that you install only those extensions that you will certainly use every day. In this post, we have singled out some of the most useful extensions for you. We hope that some of them will be useful to you and that you will add them to your collection.
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