Editing HTML and CSS code can be done without any specific tools. In fact, if you have a simple text editor, you are good to go. However, just because you can do something doesn’t mean it is the best way to do it – and that applies to web development as well.
Today, you can easily find a great and free IDE and develop apps with ease. Whether you need a JavaScript IDE, an HTML IDE, or any other web development IDE, they are all out there and many of them are open-source.
Table of Contents
What is the difference between IDE and Text Editor?
Web development IDE does all the things simple text editors do plus a number of more advanced stuff that you can’t do with text editors. For instance, while an editor such as Sublime or Atom can be used as an HTML CSS JavaScript editor, they only allow you to write code. Of course, they come with a bunch of convenient features such as syntax highlighting, customizable interfaces, and extensive navigation tools, you will need additional features to make a functional app. For example, you will need a debugger and a compiler. However, with the best IDEs, you won’t have to worry about that. They often come with additional tools for automating, testing, and visualizing the development process. Basically, they equip you with everything you need to turn code into a functioning app or program.
1. Visual Studio Code
Visual Studio Code is possibly the best JavaScript ide for Windows, Mac, and Linux. Not only does it support JavaScript, but it also supports Node.js, TypeScript, and it comes with a whole ecosystem of extensions for other languages including C++, C#, Python, PHP etc. It provides great syntax highlighting and auto-complete with IntelliSense based on variable types, function definitions, and imported modules. It also allows you to debug code by launching or attaching to your running apps debug with breakpoints, call stacks, and an interactive console. You can effortlessly integrate a JavaScript UI library into Visual Studio Code. All in all, this IDE for JavaScript is definitely one to check out. An important note – it is free to use.
2. RJ TextEd
RJ TextEd is high on our list fighting for the spot of the best IDE for JavaScript. It is a full-featured text and source editor with Unicode support and all in all, a great IDE for web development. It supports not only JavaScript, but also PHP, ASP, HTML, and CSS. Some of the most important features of this web development IDE include but are not limited to:
- Auto-completion.
- Code folding
- Column mode
- Multi-edit and multi-select
- Document map
- Annotation bar
- Advanced sorting
- Handles both ASCII and binary files
- CSS and HTML wizards
- Highlighting of colors in CSS/SASS/LESS
- An advanced color hint that can convert between color formats
- Dockable panels
- FTP and SFTP client with synchronization
- File explorer, text clips, code explorer, project manager
- Convert between code pages, Unicode formats and text formats
- Unicode and ANSI code page detection
- Open/Save UTF-8 encoded files without a signature (BOM)
- Unicode file paths and file names
- HTML validation, format, and repair
- Tools available like syntax editor, color picker, charmap
3. Light Table
Light Table is a reactive work surface for the creation and exploration of apps or programs. It’s a quite unique web development IDE based on a simple idea that people need a real work surface to code on rather than just using an editor. With Light Table, you can move things around, keep clutter down, bring information to the places you need it most etc. In addition to that, Light Table is a standalone app and you can run it just like any other editor you have been using so far.
- You don’t have to look for documentation
- Files are not the best representation of code, just a convenient serialization
- Editors can be anywhere and show you anything – not just text
- Trying is encouraged – changes produce instantaneous results
- We can shine some light on related bits of code
4. NetBeans
Netbeans is high on the list for the best web development IDE because it is easy to use and it lets you develop cool desktop, mobile, and web apps in no time. It works equally as good with JavaScript, HTML5, PHP, C/C++ etc. It is a free JavaScript IDE and a great HTML5 IDE for your day-to-day use. This web development IDE comes with cool code analyzing and editing tools compatible with the latest Java 8 technologies. This makes NetBeans 8.1 one of the best if not the best JavaScript editor.
It is also a great AngularJS IDE as well as a fantastic tool for working with Node.js, Knockout.js etc. In addition to all that, it is available in a variety of languages including English, Brazilian Portuguese, Japanese, Russian, and Simplified Chinese.
As mentioned earlier, NetBeans supports a wide range of programming languages, but if you want the coolest web development IDE for your projects, we recommend downloading the HTML5/JavaScript built installation from the download page.
As NetBeans IDE is a massive package, configuring the environment, setting up the debugger, deploying and executing an app could be tricky when you’re just getting started – this short NetBeans crash course will help you to get started.
5. Brackets
Braclets is the best web IDE if you are looking for an editor that understands web design. It comes with a great set of visual tools, such as website form creators or other, preprocessor supports and it has been created by web designers for web designers.
Another great thing about this web development IDE is the fact that it is open source and completely free of charge. In addition to that, it has a big and passionate community which is always there to help.
- Inline Editors: you can simply open a window into the code you care about most instead of jumping between file tabs.
- Live Preview: allows you to get a real-time connection to your browser; whenever you make changes to HTML and CSS, you immediately see the changes on the screen
- Preprocessor Support: allows you to use Quick Edit and Live Highlight with your LESS and SCSS files which will make working with them much easier than usually
