VS Code glossary

VS Code glossary

Terms and capitalization used in VS Code documentation.

In general, VS Code specific "things" are capitalized. These can be UI elements such as the "Command Palette" or features such as "Settings Sync".

General software terms or UI elements are not capitalized. For example, "syntax highlighting" or "terminal" are general terms and not capitalized.

VS Code brand name

"Visual Studio Code" on first use in an article or blog post. "VS Code" on subsequent mentions.

Don't use "VSCode" or "Code".

VS Code UI terms

VS Code UI terms try to follow the naming and capitalization used in the editor UI.

• Command Palette
• Activity Bar
• Status Bar
• Primary Side Bar
• Secondary Side Bar
• Panels (the region)
• File Explorer view
• Source Control view
• Debug view
• Extensions view
• Output panel
• Debug Console
• Accessible View
• Command Center
• Custom Layout Controls

general terms

• menu items
• tool bar
• editor
• terminal, integrated terminal

Avoid "widget"

"widget" is an implementation term, prefer "control".

• Find control
• Search control

VS Code feature terms

• Settings Sync
• Workspace Trust
• GitHub Copilot, subsequent Copilot
• GitHub Codespaces, instance is lowercase "codespace" as in "connect to your codespace".

Visual Studio terms

• IntelliSense
• CodeLens