Fix VS Code Explorer for Content Projects

The VS Code Explorer displays folders at the top of a directory. This is a common hierarchy that I like in most cases.

But I hate it for content.

For content sites — like chan.dev — I prefer alphabetical order. I want to see my files and folders all mixed up together.

How to change the setting

To change the default behavior, open Settings and find the option for Explorer: Sort Order.

With this option enabled, files and folders are interwoven in the Explorer.

Why I prefer mixed sort order

On chan.dev, I have lots of markdown files. Some of them have images. And I want to keep those images in a folder nearby. I ain’t tryna faff with Cloudinary or hunt down shared /assets/images folder. I want them right next to my post.

This makes it easy to keep my place on the file system.

Take it further with workspaces

As mentioned, I prefer the default sort order for most projects. So, I keep this setting stored in my chan.dev workspace. And only this project is impacted by the setting.

// chan.dev/.vscode/settings.json
{
  "explorer.sortOrder": "mixed"
}