An Integrated Development Environment (IDE) is software that consolidates the basic tools needed for software testing and writing.
Without IDE, a developer would have to select and manage all these tools separately, but IDE brings all these tools together as a single framework or service. Needless to say, IDE helps a web developer’s work to be more precise and quicker.
In this guide, we will introduce you to 10 best IDE web development options, which include feature-rich support with multiple code languages.
But before starting, let’s answer the common question “What is an IDE?” in more detail as well as how to pick the best IDE for your specific needs.
Let’s dig in.
What is an IDE?
An Integrated Development Environment (IDE) is a software that you can load onto your computer. They’re designed to streamline the web development process as mentioned earlier.
An IDE includes these main features:
Text editor – An IDE is a text editor that includes several other specific features.
Compiler or Interpreter – An integrated program that translates your code into a computer-readable language. This lets your code run, referred to as having your script executed. An interpreter is a program that’s included. Its purpose is to execute code without it needing to be compiled first.
Build or Make Integration – These are included ways to automate necessary processes.
Debugger – An included program that tests your code for errors so you can resolve them.
Syntax Highlighter – Parts of your code are displayed in colors that correspond with different elements such as properties, tags, attributes, and all the rest. This helps make your code visually easier to scan and see where you made small errors such as forgetting to close a tag.
Graphical User Interface (GUI) – This is a screen that’s human-readable and that’s straightforward to navigate as well as accomplish tasks. It can include buttons, a menu, and other similar elements instead of just text and the option to enter a text command.
Other possible features – Many IDEs develop and include new features that other IDEs may not offer.
How to Find the Right IDE for You
When deciding on an IDE that you want to use, it’s essential that you first determine what you need out of it. This is so because each IDE can differ between the features that are offered.
That also means your favorite IDE may differ from that of your peers so just pick the one that works for you at the end of the day.
Features You May Need in Your Pick for Best IDE
Here’s a short list of the possible features you may need outside of the typical components of an IDE as listed earlier:
Programming language support – The IDE you choose should support the code languages you need for your projects.
Customizable text editors – Some IDEs offer the ability to edit the GUI.
Unit testing – This is the option of being able to add mock objects to sections of your code so it can be tested straight away without having to complete that section first.
Source code library – Some IDEs have resources that include scripts and source code you can use.
Error diagnostics and reports – If you need errors to be detected and listed for you, then this is a feature to consider in your pick for best IDE web development projects need.
Code completion – Many IDEs can intelligently finish your code for you. For example, an IDE can detect when you’re ready to close a tag and will close it for you to save you time.
Integrations and plugins – with GitHub and Apache’s Subversion
Code search – You can search through your code quickly for whatever element you want.
Hierarchy diagrams – Your files can be set up and displayed in a hierarchy for larger projects containing many files and scripts that all work together in a specific way. Displaying a hierarchy diagram can help you see the order in which files are executed as well as which files and scripts are related to each other.
Model-driven development (MDD) – This is a process where a developer creates a model of what they want to code, then the IDE helps you code it. After that, the IDE automates debugging and testing to some degree so it’s easier for you to do some more debugging and testing on your own.
Be sure to make note of what features you need when you check out the best IDE for web development below.
The 10 Best IDE for Web Development
This list focuses on the most popular, powerful, feature-rich, and as a result, the best IDE options.
The Visual Studio IDE & its sibling VS Code are one of the most popular and best IDEs developed. Microsoft has added tonnes of features in it. It uses AI to learn from your edits as you code so it can finish your sentences – er, lines of code.
On top of that, you can collaborate with your team, live, when you’re editing and debugging. You can also share servers, terminals, and comments.
Visual Studio supports web, mobile, app, and game development, ASP.NET, Python, Node.js, C++, Unity as well as support for Azure.
You can also create development environments in the cloud and a lot more while being available for Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, web, and in the cloud.
Features include:
Syntax highlighting
Autocomplete with IntelliSense based on variable types
Function definitions
Imported modules
The ability to debug code from the
Custom hotkeys
Templates and boilerplates
Integrating with GitHub
Intellisense, which provides smart completions based on variable types
Customizable themes
IntelliJ IDEA is certainly one of the best IDE for Java. It focuses on features to help you be as productive as possible without cluttering up the GUI.
It indexes your code to give you relevant suggestions, and to complete your code for you. IntelliJ IDEA also automates several tasks that would otherwise be annoyingly repetitive.
It’s all that and a bag of chips, er, computer chips because it has an amazing out-of-the-box experience and doesn’t just have to be used for Java.
While it’s focused on it, it’s still great for SQL, JPQL, HTML, JavaScript, and other languages including when you inject a language into a string literal. You still get all the benefits of this IDE.
Features include:
Test runner UI
Code coverage
Git integration
Supports multiple build systems
Extensive database editor and UML designer
Supports Google App Engine, Grails, GWT
Deployment and debugging tools for most application servers
Intelligent text editors for HTML, CSS, and Java
Integrated version control
Automates repetitive programming tasks
Advanced code completion
Built-in static code analyzers
Atom is a fantastic IDE for JavaScript programming. Because it’s created by GitHub, it means that there is a thriving community to turn to if you run into any issues. It works with Mac, Windows, and Linux and ships with a package manager for installing new packages. The app is highly customizable, but can also be used well without configuring or customizing anything.
Features include:
Find, preview, and replace text as you type in a file across all projects
Easily browse and open files and projects in one window
Teletype tool - enables collaboration with other developers from within the editor
Very customizable/hackable
Package manager
4. PyCharm
PyCharm is primarily one of the best IDE for Python, but the premium version also supports other languages for web development.
It checks for errors as you code and also has autocomplete. It has a sleek, minimal GUI for uncluttered development, and also checks the quality of your code to make sure it’s up to snuff.
Features include:
Easy integration with Git, Mercurial, and SVN
Customizable interface with VIM emulation
JavaScript, Python, and Django debuggers,
Supports Google App Engine
5. PhpStorm
PhpStorm is another option to consider for one of the best IDE for web development. It’s focused on PHP, but front-end languages are also fully supported including HTML 5, CSS, Sass, Less, JavaScript, and more.
It also includes support for major software to create websites such as WordPress, Drupal, Joomla!, Laravek, and others.
It’s easy to navigate, has code autocomplete, debugging and testing tools as well as quick (and safe) refactoring.
Features include
Visual debugger
Automatic code completion
Error highlighting
Remote deployment
Databases/SQL
HTML, CSS, and JavaScript editor
Command-line tools
Smart code navigator
Refactoring and debugging tools
Docker
REST Client
Composer
Unit testing
6. WebStorm
WebStorm is on the list as one of the best IDE for web development because it’s excellent for JavaScript. It includes not only code autocompletion and live error-detection, but it also has a debugger, unit testing, and many integrations such as Git, GitHub, Mercurial, and others.
It loads quickly on startup and can automate many tedious tasks for increased productivity.
Features include:
Intelligent code completion
Multi-line todos
Automatic refactoring
Debugger
Syntax error detection
Unit testing
Integration with VCS
Cross-platform features
Powerful navigation
Parameter hints
Seamless tool integration
Git integration
7. NetBeans
You can’t have a list of the best IDE for web development without including NetBeans. It’s among one of the most popular options for the best IDE because it’s a no-nonsense software for Java, JavaScript, PHP, HTML 5, CSS, and more.
It also helps you create bug-free websites by highlighting code not just syntactically, but also semantically. It also has a lot of powerful refactoring tools while being open source.
Features include:
Line indentation
Word and bracket matching
Source code highlighting
Code refactoring
Coding tips, templates, and generators available
Modifiable workspace
8. Eclipse
This article also wouldn’t be complete without mentioning Eclipse. It’s an open-source and community-driven IDE for Javascript, mainly, but there are tools, for example, HTML, CSS.
Its contributors include Google, Netflix, Facebook, GE, and Walmart. So, you can be sure you’re getting one of the best IDE for web development.
9. RubyMine
RubyMine is focused on Ruby and Ruby on Rails, but it’s also tailored for JavaScript, CSS, Sass, Less, and more. It has syntax and error-highlighting, code completion, an advanced search for any class, file, or symbol, and fast navigation, to name just a few of the features.
10. Komodo IDE
Komodo IDE is one of the best IDE for web development, but it’s a premium option. It has a lot of features including autocomplete, visual debugger, unit testing, add-ons, team collaboration, project management tools, and more.
It supports Git, Mercurial, Subversion, CVS, Perforce, and Bazaar as well as all programming languages.
Features include:
Customizable UI (split view and multi-window editing)
Python and PHP code profiling
Code collaboration for multi-user editing
Autocomplete
Refactoring
Many available add ons
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