Boosting Productivity with Emmet

Emmet is a powerful toolkit that dramatically speeds up HTML and CSS writing. In Next.js projects, mastering Emmet can significantly improve your workflow.

What is Emmet?

Emmet is available in most modern code editors (VS Code, WebStorm, etc.) and expands abbreviations into full HTML/CSS code.

Essential Emmet Abbreviations

Basic Structure

! → Complete HTML5 boilerplate
div.container → <div className="container"></div>
ul>li*5 → Unordered list with 5 items

JSX-Specific Patterns

In Next.js and React, use className instead of class:

div.hero>h1.title+p.subtitle

Expands to:

<div className="hero">
  <h1 className="title"></h1>
  <p className="subtitle"></p>
</div>

Advanced Techniques

Multiplication and Numbering

nav>ul>li.item$*3

Creates numbered classes (item1, item2, item3).

Grouping

div>(header>nav>ul>li*3)+main+footer

Custom Attributes

img[src="image.jpg" alt="Description"]

VS Code Configuration

Ensure Emmet works with JSX in your settings.json:

{
  "emmet.includeLanguages": {
    "javascript": "javascriptreact"
  }
}

Conclusion

Mastering Emmet abbreviations can save hours of typing and make your Next.js development faster and more enjoyable.