Reviewing Default Settings

One of the tasks for this iteration is to make a proposal to alter the default for some of our settings. This is a discussion issue to solicit feedback on a proposal for change. We are looking at making some changes to improve the discovery of some of our key features and to address user feedback.

Part of a broader assessment of settings

Before I even get going it's worth sharing some context that this is part of a broader set of investigations that will occur over the next few months. Some additional context on the broader considerations is contained in issue #26892.

Overview of Changes

NOTE: Changing the default settings will change the behavior for all users of VS Code - existing and new. So the lists below are broken into three sections to try an avoid making changes unnecessarily for all users.

• Everyone's Defaults - a proposal that will impact all users
• Update Process - although not directly related this will also impact all users
• Specific Users - proposal's that relate to a specific set of users only e.g. those coming from Sublime

Changes to Everyone's Defaults

The following settings address the most common feedback we heard from users:

This next group we hear less often but none-the-less are candidates for a change in default, for these cases there may be solid reasons [beyond a preference] why a default change is a bad idea. for instance we may already be experimenting with a default change, or working through some user feedback.

Bundling a Programmers MonoSpace Font

We are also considering bundling a font with VS Code to ensure that everyone has a good experience across all platforms from install onwards - more context in this issue.

Changes to Update Process

We are also proposing a few behavior changes to the update process - this will better preserve the users last working state before the update. While these are actually not a change to the default settings they do have the same effect as changing the following settings which come into effect when you close VS Code and re-open it manually.

Changes to Specific Users

Sublime, Visual Studio

May users from Sublime and Visual Studio miss the fact we offer multi-cursor support and column/box selection, these changes would let their muscle memory work better :) We are only proposing these changes for this class of users as it would otherwise change the goto definition binding for all users without warning.

Ok thats the proposal - let us know what you think.

Sean