Master these: Ctrl+P (Quick Open), Ctrl+Shift+P (Command Palette), Ctrl+D (Select next occurrence), Ctrl+/ (Toggle comment), Alt+Up/Down (Move line), Ctrl+Shift+K (Delete line), Ctrl+` (Toggle terminal). These alone save hours per week.
VS Code provides intelligent code completion based on language semantics, function signatures, and variable types. Install language extensions for enhanced IntelliSense. Use Ctrl+Space to trigger suggestions manually.
VS Code has excellent built-in Git support. View changes inline with the editor gutter, stage specific lines (not just files), write commit messages in the sidebar, resolve merge conflicts with a three-way merge editor, and browse branch history.
Type CSS-like abbreviations and expand them into full HTML. Example: div.container>ul.list>li.item*5 expands to a container div with a list of 5 items. In CSS, type m10 for margin: 10px. This alone triples HTML writing speed.
Hold Alt and click to add cursors. Ctrl+D selects the next occurrence of the current word. Ctrl+Shift+L selects all occurrences. Use Alt+Shift+drag for column selection. This is incredibly powerful for bulk editing.
ESLint (code quality), Prettier (formatter), Live Server (real-time preview), Path Intellisense (auto-complete file paths), GitLens (enhanced Git info), Thunder Client (API testing), HTML CSS Support (class completion).