If you remember working with CSS and JScript in the previous versions of Visual Studio, editing was a nightmare. Visual Studio 2008 provides a better support for CSS and JavaScript editing. How about intellisense in XML and XAML?
Here are some cool editing features in Visual Studio 2008.
1. New Design View and CSS Design Tools
Visual Studio 2008 now has a rich CSS editing experience with several new tools to make working with cascading style sheets (CSS) easier than ever. Much of the work designing the layout and styling content can be done in Design view using the CSS Properties grid, the Apply Styles and Manage Styles panes, and the Direct Style Application tool. You can also change positioning, padding, and margins in Design view using WYSIWYG visual layout tools.
2. IntelliSense for Jscript and ASP.NET AJAX
IntelliSense has been significantly improved and now supports JScript authoring and ASP.NET AJAX scripting. Client script that is included in a Web page by using <script> tags now has the benefit of IntelliSense, as do .js script files.
Additionally, IntelliSense displays XML code comments. XML code comments are used to describe the summary, parameter, and return details of the client script. ASP.NET AJAX also uses XML code comments to provide IntelliSense of ASP.NET AJAX types and members. IntelliSense is also supported for external script file references that use XML code comments.
3. Object Browser and Find Symbol Support for Multi-targeting
You now can specify that the Object Browser display only information for a single version of the .NET Framework or the .NET Compact Framework. In addition, Find Symbol, Find and Replace Window searches can be restricted to a single version of the .NET Framework or the .NET Compact Framework.
4. WPF Designer
The Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) Designer lets you create WPF applications and custom controls in the IDE. The WPF Designer combines real-time editing of XAML with an enhanced graphical design-time experience. The following features are new for the WPF Designer:
SplitView lets you adjust objects in the graphical designer and immediately view the changes to the underlying XAML code. Likewise, changes to the XAML code are immediately reflected in the graphical designer.
The Document Outline window lets you view and move through your XAML with full selection synchronization between the designer, the document outline, the XAML editor, and the Properties window.
IntelliSense in the XAML editor enables rapid code entry. IntelliSense now supports types that you have defined.
Grid lines can be added to grids in the designer to enable easy grid-based control placement.
Snap lines let you easily align controls and text.
The designer now supports the loading of types you have defined. These include custom controls and user controls.
You can cancel loading of large XAML files.
Design-time extensibility supports design mode and property editors.