The Search for the Perfect PHP IDE (or Bigfoot)
2.12.2010 | My Blog, Web Development
If you know me at all then you know I’m a big fan of MonsterQuest and MysteryQuest on the history channel. Yeah, sometimes the "cheese" is a bit over the top, but it’s always very interesting to see how they try to find real monsters, or conspiracies and scientifically prove them. Personally I think Bigfoot is an Alien but who’s asking.
So, lately my search for a really good IDE for PHP has felt like the search for "Bigfoot". Lots of "sightings" that turn out to be disappointments. Now granted I come from a Visual Studio background which has pretty decent tools for everything. So that has colored my judgment. I’ve also used Dreamweaver quite a bit but only the coding part.
So what are my criteria:
- Syntax Coloring
- Code Completion (a.k.a. Intellisense)
- HTML/CSS Code Completion. I can’t remember every attribute of both HTML and CSS (who could)
- Code Folding
- Integrated FTP sync.
- Code Snippets Library
Sounds fairly simple right? Think again…
First I tried Aptana but it was so complex trying to figure out where this tool was, or that tool. It uses "views" and to me changing the IDE all around is really confusing.
Next I gave Netbeans a try and I have to say that I like it the best of all the free ones I tried but it is still confusing.
PhpED from NuSphere has some great built in tools. But sadly some of them don’t work with CSS or HTML. Code Navigator in particular.
I really, really like phpDesigner 7, it does almost everything I need. But the lack of code folding is very frustrating. Working with Ecommerce files that are huge is a pain.
So, I’m back to using WeBuilder 2010. Great HTML/CSS tools, built in FTP publishing, PHP code completing (sort of). But it’d be nice to have the debugging tools built in. I’m happy for now, but I’d really like to see some improvement in this area.
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2.19.2010
Recently I started using Aptana. Because my experience with Eclipse I could easily start working with it, and I actually loving it!
2.19.2010
I tried Aptana however it was just too much stuff and felt really cumbersome.
2.22.2010
I’ve always been on the lookout for the better IDE. Currently I use Komodo edit. It’s the best free IDE I’ve found so far with tabs, code folding, syntax completion & highlighting for numerous languages, view splitting, FTP access, and other stuff I haven’t played with yet. I guess I’ll try WeBuilder now.
7.23.2010
I’ve Tried NetBeans, Eclipse, all too cumbersome to use. I too enjoy Visual Studio’s IDE and I have to say PHPStorm from JetBrains (Same company that makes quite a few Visual Studio Addons like ReSharper) has been the most enjoyable for me and has a lot of similarities I’m used to with Visual Studio. It’s not free but they do have a 45 day trial right now and an intro price of $49 bucks. I’m about a week out from my trial and really contemplating purchasing a personal license myself.
http://www.jetbrains.com/phpstorm/index.html
8.07.2010
I work in frontend development, and find Crimson (now Emerald) Editor about fits my needs – it’s lightweight and basic (not even code/tag-completion), which suits me.
Our backend developers use Eclipse with the PHP plugin, which they all seem to like. We’ve had to use Aptana on a recent project (in Air), but won’t be switching anytime soon – it was too cumbersome and slow to be a realistic choice for us!