I. Introduction
Web Developers are always looking for the best VS Code extensions that can help them save time, write better code and improve their productivity. VS Code is the top Integrated Development Environment(IDE) among web developers for many reasons including its extensibility using extensions.
II. What are VS Code Extensions?
Since Visual Studio Code is not built with one programming language in mind, it allows extensibility through extensions. VS Code extensions are third-party tools or applications that are built into the VS Code user interface using the same APIs used to build the IDE.
This allows authors all over the world to develop useful extensions and upload them to the Marketplace for developers to install in their IDEs. More often than not, an extension will provide one specific service although it might come packed with several features.
III. 7 Best VS Code Extensions For Web Development
#1: Live Server
Live Server enables you to create a local development server within your IDE to serve static pages without the need to reload the pages. It is especially useful for static HTML pages since most Javascript frameworks like React have live-reload as an in-built feature.
#2: Prettier
Prettier is a very useful VS Code extension that takes care of automatically formatting your code according to your configured style. It is quite handy as it can format numerous programming languages like Javascript, HTML, CSS, and PHP.
It can be set as the default code formatter for VS Code or can be used manually by selecting a code block then right-clicking and formatting the code.
#3: GitHub Copilot
GitHub Copilot is one of the best VS Code extensions and I would argue the only code completion extension you will need for web development. Powered by Open AI codex, it is the perfect pair programmer for you.
You can trigger it by writing comments with instructions on what code or functions you need and it will do a great job of writing it for you.
#4: JavaScript (ES6) Code Snippets
This extension is a utility to save you loads of time and increase your productivity when working with Javascript applications. It comes loaded with lots of Javascript code that adheres to the ES6 syntax.
Additionally, you can build onto the snippets by customizing them to your liking which in turn makes this a very powerful extension if used properly. You can configure snippets with some of your most used functions and code blocks and avoid having to rewrite them countless times.
#5: ESLint
With over 12 million installs, this is one of the most popular VS Code extensions out there even amongst Web Developers. It works within your code to run ESLint rules against the code you write while identifying any invalidations.
This is a must-have extension for web developers that is assured to boost their code quality and productivity too.
#6: CSS Peek
Web development, and especially front-end development includes a lot of CSS code. The CSS Peek extension allows developers to quickly “peek” the definitions of CSS class names and IDs in their code.
#7: Bracket Pair Colorizer
As soon as your code is a hundred or so lines of code, brackets instantly become a problem. Once you are writing complex functions and nesting loops, it can be tedious trying to locate bracket pairs.
This VS Code extension attaches different colors to bracket pairs in your code. A simple yet very useful extension that web developers will appreciate.
Note: The project is deprecated and the developer stopped supporting it in 2022
IV. Conclusion
These are the 7 best Visual Studio Code Extensions for Web Developers in 2024. Have a look at our other language-specific VS Code Extensions lists.
- Top 10 Useful VS Code Extensions For Software Developers in 2024
- 7 Useful VS Code Extensions for PHP Developers in 2024
- 7 Useful VS Code Extensions for Python Developers in 2024
