The ultimate web development editor

written by Craig, 17 October 2007

I started coding websites in 1995 and the first thing I did was hunt around for a WYSIWYG HTML editor. I was amazed to discover that there wasn’t one. Hand-coding HTML seemed ridiculous for what was obviously a visual medium like Desktop Publishing.

It soon became apparent that web pages weren’t comparable with DTP. You can’t depend on fixed dimensions, known fonts, or colour schemes – especially back then. So, I had to learn HTML – and it’s probably been the best technology decision of my career.

Writing your own HTML gives you the ultimate flexibility. Your code is clean, you know how it works, and you know how to fix problems. Web standards has also significantly reduced the amount of HTML you need. I spend much longer developing CSS, JavaScript, PHP and C# than I do writing tags.

Whilst it takes a little experience, hand-coding soon becomes quicker than using a WYSIWYG editor. Notepad is all you need! Well, that’s not quite true. Notepad is far too basic for anything but the simplest of pages.

Great web editor features

So what should a decent web development editor provide? Here’s my list of essentials:

• It’s got to be fast
  The editor must open in a fraction of a second and remain stable and responsive.
• Support for multiple languages
  Even the most basic of web projects combine HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and a server-side language such as PHP. Often, a little SQL and XML is also required. I want to write everything in the same editor.
• Multiple files / MDI
  It’s essential to open more than one file at a time. Personally, I prefer tabs to navigate the files, and definitely need middle-click closing! A configurable window interface is good too.
• Configurable colour-coding
  A missing quote or closing tag can cause havoc, so colour-coding is essential. I also want to use colours that I’m used to, rather than someone else’s scheme.
• Session and state storing
  When I start in the morning, I want the files that I’m working on to appear immediately. If it can restore bookmarks as well, then that’s great.
• Auto-complete
  At the very least, the editor should automatically close HTML and XML tags. Intellisence-like functionality is nice, but it’s got to be good and not get in the way.
• Line numbering and line-wrapping
  Absolutely essential. Code collapsing and expanding is also useful.
• File explorer
  Being able to open files in the current folder saves a lot of time.
• Code explorer
  Nothing fancy – a list of methods and functions in order will do. Bonus points for any editor which understands the 57 varieties of JavaScript declarations too!
• Good font support
  I prefer proportional fonts, and am still yet to find anything I prefer to MS San Serif. Whilst I’m a big fan of the Dina programming font, I don’t want to be forced into using a monospace font.
• Shortcuts, plugins, and macros
  Nice to have it built in, but I generally use AutoHotKey anyway.
• Good value for money
  Open-source or freeware is a bonus, and there are so many to choose from.

And the bad ones…

Here’s the features that I don’t want:

• WYSIWYG design view
  I just want a text editor. I certainly don’t want an IDE that reformats my code if I accidentally hit a ‘design’ button.
• Project management
  I’ll manage it myself, thanks. I don’t mind if it’s there, but don’t force me to set up a project just so I can open a file.
• FTP
  No thanks – I’d prefer to control which files are uploaded and downloaded.
• Silly HTML-generating toolbars and widgets
  This really bugs me. I don’t need a toolbar icon to insert a <p> tag. And I certainly don’t need icons that insist on adding deprecated <b> tags or generating tables!

Does anyone have any other essential or non-essential features?

Coming soon – my top 10 list of the best web development editors.

• categories: software, web development
• tags: developers
• trackback: http://www.optimalworks.net/blog/2007/software/ultimate-web-editor/trackback
• bookmark: del.icio.us, digg, facebook, twitter, reddit, Furl, Spurl, Blinklist, Slashdot, Technorati, Yahoo!

2 comments:

1. 18 October 2007 Tristan commented

   Vim!

2. 18 October 2007 Craig commented

   Yes, Vim reaches almost religious levels of praise from some developers – and it probably has more plugins and support than any other editor.

   But, it’s got a steep learning curve and is not easy for new users. I fully respect anyone who’s taken the time to master Vim, but I think life’s too short to learn the powerful keyboard shortcuts!