Faster development through less crap

A couple of tips for .NET developers who get frustrated with how slow everything is.

Speeding up XAML editing

To get a much faster and more stable WPF XAML editing experience, right-click a XAML file and choose Open With > Source Code (Text) Editor > Set as Default.  This gets you the full XAML editor, with Intellisense, without bogging you down with the visual designer.  It is about a million times faster, even compared to the designer’s XAML-only view, especially when you have multiple XAML files open.  If you need an excuse to go get some coffee, do your shopping or take a three-month hiking tour of the Himalayas, you still open the visual designer using, wait for it, the View Designer command.  (Thanks to Fabrice Marguerie.)

Speeding up MSDN

To get MSDN online to come up quickly in the browser, switch to the low-bandwidth version.  You don’t get fancy resizing or buckets of graphics, but you get the content and you get it quick.  Click here to see what it’s like and choose “Persist low bandwidth view” if you like it – that way you get the fast view even when following a link to the slow version.  (Thanks to Craig Andera.)