Visual Studio Code 1.80, the latest update of Microsoft’s source code editor, introduces several new features and improvements. Here are the key highlights:
1. Preserving layout of shared editor groups:
Previously, when splitting an editor group, the width of the existing editors would change, causing layout disruptions. In VS Code 1.80, a new feature called “auto” for workbench.editor.splitSizing has been introduced. This feature only splits the editor group evenly if no resizing of the open editor groups has been done. This ensures that existing layouts remain unchanged.
2. Default support for displaying images in the terminal:
In the previous release, displaying images in the terminal was available as a preview feature. With VS Code 1.80, it has become a standard functionality. VS Code supports image rendering using the Sixel bitmap graphics format and the Inline Images Protocol powered by iTerm2. Users can test this feature with sample files or by using the Python package imgcat or the imgcat script with various image formats.
3. Increased accessibility through Accessible View and audio signals:
To enhance accessibility, several new commands and functions have been added. The “Open Accessible View” command (Alt+F2) allows screen reader users to examine content character by character and line by line. The “Open Accessibility Help” command (Alt+F1) opens a context-specific help menu for the editor, terminal, notebook, chat panel, and inline chat features. Users of GitHub Copilot Chat can now enable audio signals to indicate sent chat requests, pending responses, and received responses.
These are just a few of the new features and improvements in Visual Studio Code 1.80. For a complete list of changes, refer to the official release announcement.
