10 Best IDE To Select For Web Development Project

Web development involves writing and editing code, project organization, debugging, troubleshooting, code refactoring, and deployment, which is quite a task. Their IDE (Integrated Development Environment) comes to the rescue. It provides a comprehensive set of tools and features that help web developers write cleaner code, increase efficiency, reduce errors, and streamline the web development process.

IDEs provide a centralized platform for coding, project management, deployment, learning, and collaboration, which makes the coding experience more convenient and productive. However, with several IDEs available for web development, it’s difficult to say which one is good and which one is forgettable.

Here’s the list of the top 10 IDE that may help you.

Top 10 IDEs that are used for Web Development Projects

Leading web development companies use advanced IDEs to streamline the web development process and accelerate project development, debugging, and deployment. Take a look at the popular IDEs that businesses can leverage for their next web development project.

Visual Studio

VS Code is a highly popular and versatile IDE developed by Microsoft. It offers excellent support for web development, with a wide range of extensions, integrated terminal, GIT integration, debugging capabilities, and powerful code editing features. Its lightweight nature, extensive customization options, and strong community support make it a top choice for web development.

Visual Studio offers comprehensive support for a wide range of programming languages and frameworks including built-in syntax highlighting, code completion, and IntelliSense features that provide intelligent code suggestions, parameter hints, and documentation as code is typed. The support for task runners and build systems make it easier to automate repetitive development tasks.

The versatile IDE- visual studio features-

• Lightweight and extensible
• Integrated terminal
• Debugging and testing capabilities
• Extension marketplace
• Cross-platform support
• Collaboration and live share

Webstorm

Developed by JetBrains, WebStorm offers a rich set of features and tools to enhance productivity and streamline the web development workflow. The commercial IDE which offers a free trial period, is widely used by web developers familiar with JavaScript frameworks and technologies. It features Emmet abbreviations, code completion, and live previews that streamline HTML and CSS editing. The support for CSS preprocessors like Sass, Less, and Stylus, provides syntax highlighting and code navigation for these languages.

Facilitates intelligent code assistance with intelligent code completion, error detection, and code navigation for various web technologies (HTML, CSS, and JavaScript). The context-aware suggestions, automatic imports, and quick fixes improve code quality and speed up development. The live editing and synchronization of web pages allow viewing changes in HTML and CSS in real time without refreshing the browser, making it easier to iterate and preview changes quickly.

WebStorm IDE features the following things-

• Provide intelligent code assistance
• HTML and CSS editing
• Built-in terminal
• Live editing and synchronization
• Code quality analysis
• Extensibility and integration

Atom

Atom is a popular open-source text editor that is highly customizable and extensible. It is not a full-fledged integrated development environment (IDE) out of the box, but it can be transformed into one with the help of various packages and plugins from the Atom ecosystem. These packages provide various functionalities such as linting, code formatting, auto-completion, version control integration, and others.

Atom facilitates personalizing coding experience while building a website with a wide range of themes, syntax highlighting options, and UI customization. The built-in Git integration allows performing common version control operations without leaving the editor. The smart autocompletion and suggestions help speed up coding by reducing manual typing and providing hints for available options.

The ability to split the editor into multiple panes enables viewing and editing different files side by side, which is useful for comparing code or working on different parts of a web development project simultaneously.

The open-source text editor Atom features-

• Integrated Git support
• Package ecosystem
• Multiple panes and split editing
• Built-in package manager
• Command palette
• Project management

Sublime Text

Sublime Text is a popular text editor that is highly regarded for its speed, simplicity, and extensive customization options. It is known for its exceptional performance and has a minimalistic and distraction-free interface that helps to maintain focus while programming. The cross-platform support enables to access IDE on different operating systems such as Windows, macOS, and Linux.

Sublime Text features efficient editing tools such as multiple selections and multi-cursor editing that enable making simultaneous changes in different parts of the web development code, saving time and effort. The powerful search and navigation capabilities allow quick finding and jumping to specific files, functions, or symbols within a project. It supports regular expressions, fuzzy search, and keyboard shortcuts for efficient navigation.

Sublime Text editor tool features a range of things-

• Speed and responsiveness
• Extensibility and customization
• Search and navigation
• Command palette
• Build system integration
• Multiple selection and editing

PHPstorm

PHPStorm is specifically designed for PHP development by JetBrains, which offers a wide range of features and tools for efficient PHP web project development. there’s a free trial period provided by the IDE that enables testing PHP-specific features such as code analysis, refactoring, and code generation. It supports PHP frameworks like Laravel, Symfony, and Yii, providing framework-specific integrations and tools.

PHPStorm seamlessly integrates with various databases through database tools, SQL code completion, schema visualization, and data editing capabilities so that database-related tasks are completed. It includes a built-in development server that allows running and debugging PHP applications directly within the IDE. It eliminates the need for external servers during the web development procedure and simplifies the setup process.

Take the development by storm with PHP-storm offerings-

• PHP-specific features
• Version control integration
• Integrated development server
• Database integration
• Remote development capabilities

IntelliJ IDEA

IntelliJ IDEA supports various programming languages, including Java, Kotlin, Groovy, Scala, and more. it features intelligent code assistance, smart code analysis, framework-specific technologies, and a vast ecosystem of plugins that makes web app development effortless. It supports popular build tools like Maven and Gradle, providing tools for project building, dependency management, and task execution.

The refactoring capabilities of IntelliJ idea help web developers improve the structure and maintainability of their code. It offers automated code generation for common patterns, getters/setters, constructors, and more. The static code analysis tools detect errors, performance issues, and potential bugs in code followed by suggestions for code improvements while adhering to industry best practices and coding standards.

Complete the web development intelligently with IntelliJ IDE features-

• Smart code analysis
• Debugging and testing
• Built-in build tools
• Extensibility with plugins
• Refactoring and code generation

NetBeans

NetBeans is a free and open-source IDE that’s available for Windows, macOS, Linux, and other operating systems. It supports Java development with templates for common Java constructs, integration with build tools like Ant and Maven, and seamless integration with Java EE technologies. Profiling tools help in analyzing the performance of Java applications with memory profiling, CPU profiling, and thread analysis

Additionally, NetBeans supports PHP development with code completion, syntax highlighting, code formatting, and integrated debugging for PHP applications. There’s a visual GUI builder for Java Swing applications that allows the creation of user interfaces using drag-and-drop functionality. It simplifies complex UIs design with tools for layout management, event handling, and UI customization of website development.

NetBeans enables a bouquet of things-

• Support PHP development
• Support JAVA development
• GUI development
• Plugin ecosystem
• Profiling and debugging
• Community support

Eclipse

Eclipse is primarily focused on Java development, but also supports other programming languages through the use of plugins. Eclipse’s architecture is highly extensible that enables the creation of plugins or using existing ones with customization to meet specific web development requirements. Also, it facilitates customizing the IDE’s appearance, layout, and toolbars as per the web UI design preferences. It supports multiple themes, color schemes, and user interface configurations.

The project management feature enables organizing and managing files efficiently so that web developers can easily navigate through and access files when required. The seamless integration with various version control systems like Git, Subversion, and Mercurial is an add-on.

See what Eclispse has to offer-

• Plugin ecosystem
• Integrated build tools
• User interface customization
• Community support
• Java development

Brackets

Bracket IDE designed for web development- is built using web technologies (HTML, CSS, and JavaScript) and mainly focused on front-end development. The live preview feature allows viewing changes in real-time as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript code is edited. Quick edit enables making changes to CSS and JS code straight within the HTML file.

The code hinting and autocompletion features for HTML, CSS, and JavaScript provide suggestions for tags, properties, classes, and functions. The ability to open inline editors for specific code elements with a single click helps in modifying specific parts of the code.

A quick look at what Brackets IDE offers-

• Live preview
• Quick edit
• Inline editor
• Code hinting and completion
• Integration with preprocessor
• Git integration

PyCharm

PyCharm IDE is built by JetBrains company to streamline Python web development projects with Django and Flask frameworks integration, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript support, and dedicated project templates for web applications. It provides a complete web development environment with features like version control integration (Git, Mercurial, and others), a built-in terminal, database tools, and support for virtual environments, which are required for developing Python applications.

The effortless integration with scientific libraries and tools that are used in data science and scientific computing for interactive data analysis, plotting, and running code in Jupyter notebooks. Intelligent code editor, code analysis, database tools, and extensibility make it a good fit for Python app development.

See how can you streamline web development with PyCharm IDE-

• Python development
• Integrated development environment
• Scientific stack integration
• Code analysis and refactoring
• Plugin ecosystem
• Community support

Which IDE should you Choose for the Next Web Development Project?

Web development IDEs accelerate the web development project followed by a range of benefits. A few examples of IDEs used in web development showcase how businesses can leverage them for different types of web development projects. The choice of IDE often depends on personal preferences, the programming languages and frameworks being used, and the specific needs of the project. It’s recommended to explore different IDEs and choose the one that best suits your web development requirements and workflow.

Avantika Shergil   |  Jul 5, 2023

An enthusiastic Operations Manager at TopDevelopers.co, coordinating and managing the technical and functional areas. She is an adventure lover, passionate traveler, an admirer of nature, who believes that a cup of coffee is the prime source to feel rejuvenated. Researching and writing about technology keeps her boosted and enhances her professional journeying.