Sublime Text is a fast, extensive, cross-platform text editor which is supported by a large open-source community and a library of plugins & themes. Here are some of the ways I’ve improved my version of Sublime Text:

The most essential Sublime Text plugin is Package Control:

This plugin will help you acquire the rest of the plugs I’ll mention later, and it’s simple to install. If you’re using Sublime Text 3 like me, open the console (View > Show Console) and paste the following:

import urllib.request,os,hashlib; h = '7183a2d3e96f11eeadd761d777e62404' + 'e330c659d4bb41d3bdf022e94cab3cd0'; pf = 'Package Control.sublime-package'; ipp = sublime.installed_packages_path();urllib.request.install_opener( urllib.request.build_opener( urllib.request.ProxyHandler()) ); by = urllib.request.urlopen( 'http://sublime.wbond.net/' + pf.replace(' ', '%20')).read(); dh = hashlib.sha256(by).hexdigest(); print('Error validating download (got %s instead of %s), please try manual install' % (dh, h)) if dh != h else open(os.path.join( ipp, pf), 'wb' ).write(by)

If you’re on Sublime Text 2, use this code:

import urllib2,os,hashlib; h = '7183a2d3e96f11eeadd761d777e62404' + 'e330c659d4bb41d3bdf022e94cab3cd0'; pf = 'Package Control.sublime-package'; ipp = sublime.installed_packages_path(); os.makedirs( ipp ) if not os.path.exists(ipp) else None; urllib2.install_opener( urllib2.build_opener( urllib2.ProxyHandler()) ); by = urllib2.urlopen( 'http://sublime.wbond.net/' + pf.replace(' ', '%20')).read(); dh = hashlib.sha256(by).hexdigest(); open( os.path.join( ipp, pf), 'wb' ).write(by) if dh == h else None; print('Error validating download (got %s instead of %s), please try manual install' % (dh, h) if dh != h else 'Please restart Sublime Text to finish installation') 

The next plugin I recommend is this Git plugin. It’s fairly self-explanitory: it adds Git traits to the text editor. With Package Control, installation is simple: open Package Control with the “⌘+Shift+P” keystroke, type ‘Install Package’, and select ‘Git’.

Third plugin I can recommend is ‘Sidebar Enhancements’. This can be installed similarly to the Git plugin. It adds a wealth of features to the bare default sidebar, of which can be seen below:

Fourth: Quick File Creator. This simple plugins adds the feature to create files with the command palette.

Fifth: SublimeLint – error highlighting.

Finally, Emmet – an incredibly useful plugin for any web developer. Emmet is an auto-completion engine for HTML and CSS code. Check out an example in this .gif:

Some useful keyboard shortcuts:

Show file in project: This shortcut needs to be added to Sublime, but it is one that I find myself constantly using. It will reveal the location of the current file in the sidebar. To map it, open your keymap file (⌘+Shift+P, search for ‘key bindings’), and add the following line:

	{ "keys": ["super+shift+r"], "command": "goto_symbol_in_project" }, 

Multiple cursors: Great for repetitive tasks. The keystroke is: ‘CTRL+Shift+Arrow Key’. This will allow you to add as many cursors as you want!

Close the current HTML tag: a great keystroke for web-developers: ‘⌘+Alt+.’

Theming

There are thousands of themes for Sublime, so it’s really down to your preference. I’m using the Soda theme, but you can find many more here!