DEV Community

Cover image for 10 VS Code emmet tips to make you more productive
Tapas Adhikary
Tapas Adhikary

Posted on • Edited on • Originally published at blog.greenroots.info

10 VS Code emmet tips to make you more productive

#html #productivity #javascript #vscode

In general, productivity is the ratio between the output and input. In software engineering, programming productivity(or development productivity) can be the ratio between the quantity of the software code produced and its time-cost.

In mathematical term,

Development Productivity = Quantity of Software Code / (Number of Programmers * Time Spent to Produce the Code)

The lesser time spent to produce the code results in a significant increase in the development productivity. Let us learn about a few tips & tricks to drastically reduce the HTML/CSS source code creation time to become super productive.

VS Code and Emmet

Visual Studio Code(aka, VS Code) is one of the leading source code editor(also an IDE) and arguably one of the best today for web development. Emmet is a plug-in based infrastructure that can produce HTML/CSS code snippets from short-hand syntaxes. VS Code supports Emmet 2.0 out of the box. It means you do not need any additional extensions to take advantage of it.

Let us see ten such usages of the emmet using VS code to help you become a more productive developer.

Feel free to open an empty HTML file in the VS Code editor and try out these tips & tricks as you read!

1. HTML Structure and Tags

One of the struggles that most web developers face is remembering the HTML Structure and syntaxes of HTML tags. What could be more exciting than a single character can create the basic HTML structure for us? Open an empty HTML file using VS code and type ! character. You will get an option to select to create a basic HTML structure, as shown in the image below.

html_exp_1.png

You can type a few initial letters of any HTML tags to create elements with the required attributes. The image below shows the possibilities to create the anchor tag with different attributes.

html_exp_2.png

Here are a few more examples that are of frequent use in web development. We can link to a CSS file, load a JavaScript file, create different input tags, a disabled button, etc.

html_exp_3.png

There are plenty of others you can try out by typing the initial characters of the HTML tags.

2. Add class and id

An efficient way to reduce coding time is to create the HTML tags with the required class names and ids. Try this short-cut to create a ul tag with the class name, list.

ul.list
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

produces,

<ul class="list"></ul>
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Similarly, here is the short-cut for creating a ul element with the id, list-id.

ul#list-id
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

produces,

<ul id="list-id"></ul>
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

If you want to add a class name or id to the div element, you do not even need to mention the div in the short-hand.

For class name,

.content
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

produces,

<div class="content"></div>
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

For id,

#content-id
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

produces,

<div id="content-id"></div>
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

3. Children

Creating a nested HTML structure manually can be very tedious. What if we can create the nested HTML structure by typing only a few characters? Let's create an unordered list(ul) and a list item(li) under it. Use the > symbol to create the nested child structure.

ul>li
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

produces,

<ul>
    <li></li>
</ul>
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Lorem is another useful short-cut to create some random texts to test your web page faster. Let's create a paragraph(p) tag with the Lorem texts.

p>Lorem
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

produces,

<p>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur, adipisicing elit. Consectetur deserunt quam voluptatum quos ipsa cupiditate ipsum qui sequi illum? Qui exercitationem accusamus totam natus ut fugit magnam modi eaque doloremque.</p>
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Now, let us create an unordered list(ul) with a list item(li) under it. The list item should have a class name, list. Finally, we want to create an anchor(a) tag with a class name, link inside the li tag.

ul>li.list>a.link
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

produces,

<ul>
    <li class="list">
       <a href="" class="link"></a>
    </li>
</ul>
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

4. Multiplication

You can multiply an HTML element using the * symbol. Let's create 5 list tags(li) inside a ul tag.

ul>li*5
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

produces,

<ul>
    <li></li>
    <li></li>
    <li></li>
    <li></li>
    <li></li>
</ul>
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

5. Siblings

Use the + symbol to create multiple elements at the same level. Let's say we want to create three div elements in the same level wrapped by another div.

.bothers>.alex+.bob+.me
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

produces,

<div class="bothers">
    <div class="alex"></div>
    <div class="bob"></div>
    <div class="me"></div>
</div>
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

As you know by now, we no need to mention the div element when creating it with class name and id.

6. Grouping

Once you know the usages of the last 5 tips & tricks, you can use them in combinations to become very productive. This is where the grouping comes in to picture. We use the ( symbol along with ) to create the group.

Let's create a ul tag and 5 groups of li and a tags.

ul>(li>a)*5
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

produces,

<ul>
    <li><a href=""></a></li>
    <li><a href=""></a></li>
    <li><a href=""></a></li>
    <li><a href=""></a></li>
    <li><a href=""></a></li>
</ul>
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Now, let us take a bit more complex usage. Notice the grouping used in the short-hand below,

div>(header>ul>li*2>span.item)+section.content+(footer>(p>Lorem)*2)
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Once you break it down, it creates the proper nested structure using the group. The image below demonstrates it.

group_example.png

It produces this code snippet,

<div>
    <header>
        <ul>
            <li><span class="item"></span></li>
            <li><span class="item"></span></li>
        </ul>
    </header>
    <section class="content"></section>
    <footer>
        <p>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur adipisicing elit. Repellat iure quaerat, molestias dolore commodi sequi porro, delectus eius quos saepe recusandae veniam modi laudantium voluptatibus cumque odit similique beatae eos.</p>
        <p>Nemo sequi veniam est! Laborum rem iste id vel, harum repellendus, reiciendis labore minima eum voluptatem dicta error nesciunt fugiat! Ipsa, perferendis iste exercitationem explicabo ex consequuntur dicta iure ipsam.</p>
    </footer>
</div>
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

7. Numbering

We use the $ symbol to create numbering. The $ symbol can be used with the * symbol to multiply the number of occurrences.

header>ul>li.item$*3
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

produces,

<header>
    <ul>
        <li class="item1"></li>
        <li class="item2"></li>
        <li class="item3"></li>
    </ul>
</header>
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

8. Text

We use the flower braces({ and }) to create elements with the text within them. Let's create a span element with some text within it.

span{I am a span}
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

produces,

<span>I am a span</span>
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Ok, how to create all the HTML heading tags(H1...H6) with the text identifying them? Here is the short-hand for it,

h$*6{I'm a Heading $}*6
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

produces,

<h1>I'm a Heading 1</h1>
<h2>I'm a Heading 2</h2>
<h3>I'm a Heading 3</h3>
<h4>I'm a Heading 4</h4>
<h5>I'm a Heading 5</h5>
<h6>I'm a Heading 6</h6>
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

9. Climb up

You may feel a need to climb back to the HTML tree when you are too deep nested down. You can use the ^ symbol to climb up a step in the hierarchy. You can use the symbol multiple times to climb up multiple steps. Let's understand with examples.

Here we are adding a div tag by climbing up once.

div>div>h3+span^div{I can climb up}
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

produces,

<div>
    <div>
        <h3></h3>
        <span></span>
    </div>
    <div>I can climb up</div>
</div>
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Notice the placement of the div tag when we climb twice!

div>div>h3+span^^div{I can climb up}
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

produces,

<div>
    <div>
        <h3></h3>
        <span></span>
    </div>
</div>
<div>I can climb up</div>
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

10. CSS

We have an ocean of opportunities here. You can use the short-hands in the CSS file to generate the CSS properties. Here are a few I use very often,

css.png

Where to go from here

I hope you find the article useful. If you are already using the emmet short-cuts, feel free to comment about your favorite ones. Don't forget to checkout Emmet Cheat Sheet to learn more usages.

Before we end, feel free to connect with me on Twitter(@tapasadhikary). You may also like,

P.S. I love Coffee ☕. Buy Me A Coffee

Top comments (25)

Collapse
 
nikhilroy2 profile image
Nikhil Chandra Roy •

Great, that's why VS is great.
.btn-group>.btn.btn-primary+.btn.btn-info+.btn.btn-secondary+.btn.btn-success+.btn.btn-warning+.btn.btn-danger+.btn.btn-dark+.btn.btn-light+.btn.btn-muted

all bootstrap button.

Collapse
 
atapas profile image
Tapas Adhikary •

Super, Nikhil. Thanks for adding to the list.

Collapse
 
reynaldichernando profile image
reynaldichernando •

Thanks! I had no idea span{text} existed.

Collapse
 
atapas profile image
Tapas Adhikary •

You are welcome. Glad, you found it useful.

Collapse
 
wildgeodude profile image
wildgeodude •

This is great, had no idea half of them existed. Cheers!

Collapse
 
atapas profile image
Tapas Adhikary •

Thank you!

Collapse
 
dhotesurendra profile image
Surendra Dhote •

Loved it Tapas.

Thanks,
Surendra Dhote
Editor @ Proche

Collapse
 
atapas profile image
Tapas Adhikary •

Thanks, Surendra!

Collapse
 
favanso profile image
Fernando Branco •

Amazing post! Emmit is really helpful.

Collapse
 
atapas profile image
Tapas Adhikary •

Thank you!

Collapse
 
arthur40056743 profile image
Arthur •

nice

Collapse
 
atapas profile image
Tapas Adhikary •

Thanks Arthur

Collapse
 
bobbyiliev profile image
Bobby Iliev •

Very good list! Thanks for sharing.

Here is also a free video course on how to code faster with Emmet:

learn.better.dev/faster-coding-wit...

Collapse
 
tayyabtariq242 profile image
Muhammad Tayyab Tariq •

Great

Collapse
 
spike650 profile image
Joel Goodhealth •

Great article. I've already made some experiments with emmet and found out that you nearly can code a full page in just one line of code. It saves a lot of time.

Collapse
 
atapas profile image
Tapas Adhikary •

Very true, Joel. It's super useful.

Collapse
 
shamimahossai13 profile image
Shamima Hossain •

i should've seen this earlier...thanks a lot for the great read!

Collapse
 
atapas profile image
Tapas Adhikary •

Thanks a lot for reading and appreciating. I'm glad you found it helpful.

View full discussion (25 comments)

Read next

keploy profile image

JSON Diff: Comparing JSON Data Effectively

keploy -

husniddin6939 profile image

Vue JS props

Husniddin6939 -

apurvupadhyay profile image

Qwen2.5 Coder — The Future of Local Code Generation! 🎉

Apurv Upadhyay -

stroiman profile image

Go-DOM - 1st major milestone

Peter Strøiman -