How to Open Html Pages in the Designer

Unlike some prior versions VS 2019 opens .htm and .html files in the HTML editor and not the designer. This means you can't see the page as it would be displayed in a browser. To fix this you need to set the default editor to the HTML Web Forms editor.Follow these steps:

1. Right click on your htm or html file in solution explorer.

2. Click on Open With.

3. Click on the HTML Web Forms Editor,

4. Click on Set as Defualt.

5. Click on OK.

If you have both .htm and .html files youo will have to repeat the above steps for each file type.

You should see design, split, and source tabs in the lower left corner of the document. Clcik to select the view you want.