5 Alien Articles of the Week Worth Reading 👽📖
Tags: beginners, webdev, productivity, css
Published: 2019-03-01 13:00:34

---
title: 5 Alien Articles of the Week Worth Reading 👽📖
published: true
description: 
tags: beginners, webdev, productivity, css
cover_image: https://thepracticaldev.s3.amazonaws.com/i/jrq0szvayz93qpzxynvq.png
series: alien articles
---
Hey guys! I hope you enjoyed my last week's article. I am back with this week's scoop. These are the articles posted outside Dev.to, hence the moniker "alien". 👽
I think you guys will enjoy them!

# 1. Create Your First Visual Studio Code Extension
Most devs I know use VS code, and it is quite popular among devs for good reason, because it provides us so many extensions to increase our productivity. But have you ever thought of creating your own custom plugin in VS code? Maybe you have a very specific, very niche requirement from your IDE. Well, then this article by James Quick will help you make plugins that will do exactly what you need.

[![Alt text of image](https://thepracticaldev.s3.amazonaws.com/i/fzn3d20s3wdfu5n0jx5r.png)](https://scotch.io/tutorials/create-your-first-visual-studio-code-extension)

# 2. 7 JavaScript Playgrounds to Use in 2019
Whether you want to help a teammate, show off your skills, help anyone else in coding, or want to receive feedback from any of your colleagues, online code editing platforms really come in handy. Peter Ekene shared a list of some of these platforms that you will love. Tell me which one's your favorite in the comments!

[![Alt text of image](https://thepracticaldev.s3.amazonaws.com/i/59l9vcpyq5xrm5oejvrm.png)](https://scotch.io/tutorials/7-javascript-playgrounds-to-use-in-2019)

# 3. How to choose the best code conventions for you and your team
Every developer has their own coding quirks and set of conventions they like to follow. But when you are working in a team,  chances are high that coding conventions you might be using will be different from other developers, and it makes collaboration difficult. In this article, Ofer Vugman will help you understand the need of coding conventions and how to choose the best coding conventions for your team.

[![Alt text of image](https://thepracticaldev.s3.amazonaws.com/i/k42qc5pkf55x6sadui9u.png)](https://medium.freecodecamp.org/how-to-choose-the-best-code-conventions-for-you-and-your-team-992cc2cc7b83)

# 4. Responsive Designs and CSS Custom Properties: Building a Flexible Grid System 
Want to create your own flexible grid system without using bootstrap? Then this article by Mikolaj Dobrucki will help you make your own flexible grid system with some custom CSS properties, which will save you some precious KBs on page size. In the end, he also shares a comparison between grid system from Bootstrap and CSS custom properties.

[![Alt text of image](https://thepracticaldev.s3.amazonaws.com/i/udqh5450g6285sne1lm4.png)](https://css-tricks.com/responsive-designs-and-css-custom-properties-building-a-flexible-grid-system/)

# 5. Angular Reactive Forms: Tips and Tricks
If you are an Angular developer then this article by Netanel Basal is for you. It will show you some tips and tricks related to Angular reactive forms that you might not be aware of. I found some really neat tricks myself. Check it out!


[![Alt text of image](https://thepracticaldev.s3.amazonaws.com/i/dvovtcz5q2fp6awewiuy.png)](https://netbasal.com/angular-reactive-forms-tips-and-tricks-bb0c85400b58)

# Let me know what you think!
What are your thoughts on these articles? Love them? Hate them? And what all have you guys been reading? Tell me in the comments, please! Also tell me about your favorite dev blogs. Don't forget to have an awesome day! ❤

![](https://media.giphy.com/media/7DzlajZNY5D0I/giphy.gif)