Customizing Visual Studio [closed]

Answer 1

Customize The Context Menu's

I personally customize the context menu's to remove the ones I don't want and minimize my scroll time. It can also speed up the time taken for the menu's to appear.

To do this go to Tools/Customize and Check the "Context Menus" item. The menu's appear on the top of the main design area. To modify them select the context menu you want and drag and drop items around.

I usually remove items like "Get Version" in Team Foundation Server as I rarely if ever use it and I can use it from Team Explorer if I need to.

Customize the Menu's http://tim.yen.googlepages.com/CustomizeMenus.png/CustomizeMenus-full;init:.png

Answer 2

I second the vote for Resharper. It really substantially improves the quality of your code. CodeRush is also good, and more visual, either one of them is worth the money (if you can convince your employer to buy them for you :)). You would probably not want to use both at the same time, though, since there is a lot of functional overlap.

There's a cool free add-in that Scott Hanselman links to called "rockscroll", that replaces the scroll bar with a visual view of your code, I find it really helpful.

Answer 3

Make sure you install a custom color theme. These URLs are a good place to start looking for one:

http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000682.html http://www.hanselman.com/blog/VisualStudioProgrammerThemesGallery.aspx

I myself love Oren Ellenbogen's Dark Scheme. Really pleasant to the eyes. Also, make sure to replace the default font with Consolas or Inconsolata (one is Microsoft's, the other is free). They are both awesome.

Answer 4

I can't coding without Resharper and GhostDoc, both are very good, i love that.

Answer 5

Resharper is definitely a great tool. It has a moderate learning curve but is easy to pick up for some simple things and add mastery later. It is a good price for students and kinda expensive for the rest of us. Resharper is similar to CodeRush, but seems to have a larger following.

PowerCommands is a great set of add-ons that comes free from Microsoft. Things like "Open in Windows Explorer", "Command Prompt Here", and Copy/Paste references.

A discussion regarding add-ins is floating around here somewhere.

For straight-up customization, changing colors is fun, easy, and gives you a big bang for your buck. I prefer a slightly personalized version of Rob Conery's TextMate theme for Visual Studio. Once you get colors you like, you can just export the settings and carry them with you wherever you go.

Related to colors and themes, the Consolas font pack is pretty nifty and easy on the eye.

And like John recommends, a mastery of keyboard shortcuts will pay big dividends.

Answer 6

I have Resharper and SQL Prompt, both are excellent.