Frontend development tools have come a long way in just a few years. With the technological advancements, we can harness the power of highly-tested libraries to improve our workflow and achieve responsive web app design. In addition to this, we can build things together through ever-improving version control systems. From browser plugins to processors that streamline your code, there is more scope for creating awesome web applications.
But, with the number of web app development tools that increase on daily basis, finding the best software to get the job done can sometimes be a daunting task. To help you, we have created a list of essential front-end development tools for you.
1- Sublime Text
It is a first-rate front-end code editor with a well-designed, super-efficient and ultra-fast user interface. There are many tools which do it well, but probably the best (and most popular) is Sublime Text.
Managed by a one-man development team, the secret to Sublime’s success lies in the program’s wide range of keyboard shortcuts, such as the ability to make simultaneous changes (same interactive changes to multiple selected areas) and fast navigation, files, symbols, and lines. And when you spend more than 8 hours with your editor every day, these precious seconds saved for each process really add up.
2. Notepad ++
Notepad++ is a popular, free open source code editor that is lightweight and easy to use. It is a great code editor for beginners because it offers a distraction-free environment for you to work.
Notepad++ offers more than 50 features including the ability to open multiple documents via the tab interface, macro recording and playback, Syntax Folding or Highlighting, and PCRE (Perl Compatible Regular Expression) search/replace. In fact, it also supports user-defined Syntax Highlighting and Folding.
A helpful feature of Notepad++ which will save you much time is the auto-completion for words functions and function parameters hint.
You can also customize the user interface of Notepad++ any way you want. If you don’t like the default theme, you can choose from the 20 different themes that come with it.
Pros –
1. It supports a huge range of languages.
2. Resource friendly.
3. Ability to open multiple files in tabbed pages.
4. User-defined syntax highlighting and folding.
5. Multiple cursors for code editing and a document map.
6. Macros.
Cons –
1. The design is outdated.
2. Lack of packages.
3. Does not contain a very effective plugin management system.
3. Brackets
Brackets by Adobe is an open source software which is licensed under the MIT license. It is available for all platforms and is a very suitable code editor for frontend development. Brackets is optimized for CSS, HTML and JavaScript editing.
In fact, it lets you do that quick CSS hack, create and edit page templates or set up child themes in a quick and easy way.
One thing that makes Brackets unique is that it is created using a combination of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. This means that frontend devs can easily hack or extend the program as they are already familiar with the language.
Now, let’s talk about some features. Although this code editor has not matured yet, being a modern piece of software, it still packs all the standard features like find and replace, code completion suggestions, split windows for working on multiple files at once and code highlighting.
Pros –
1. Quick editing feature for editing all CSS associated with any HTML element.
2. Sophisticated color picker/converter
3. JSLint support – Useful for quickly checking JavaScript Code.
4. Live preview feature
5. Highly extendable – It is very easy to extend Brackets via hacking and installing extensions.
Cons –
1. The extension manager requires some improvement.
4. Atom
Atom is a free, open source and cross-platform code editor that is built by Github. It contains all the essential features of a modern code editor like autocomplete, Syntax Highlighting, the ability to customize its interface or change themes etc.
What truly makes Atom a desirable choice for developers is the ability to add so many additional features with the help of ‘Packages’. You can install popular packages directly from inside Atom and add extensions that can do anything from changing your color schemes or showing the file size of different projects.
You can even create your own packages and upload to your Github repository.
Pros –
1. Highly extendible due to packages.
2. Fuzzy Search function – Helps you to find something across multiple tabs.
3. Integration with Github
Cons –
1. The performance of the software needs to be improved.
5. Visual Studio Code
Visual Studio Code a.k.a VSCode is a relatively new, free cross-platform open source code editor developed by Microsoft.
Although it is new in the field, it quickly becoming the favorite among many developers due to its modern interface and highly useful features.
A useful feature of VSCode is IntelliSense which goes beyond Syntax Highlighting and Autocomplete. It provides smart completions based on function definitions, variable types, and imported modules.
It also has Git commands built-in. Due to this, you can stage commands, review diffs and make commits right from the editor.
Aside from these, it also has a good plugin ecosystem. So, you can install packages like in Atom or Sublime in order to customize it or extend its features.
Pros –
1. It has all the useful elements of a modern code editor like Atom but feels faster and is more stable.
2. High level of customization can be done.
3. Developed by Microsoft. Expect fewer bugs.
Cons –
1. Relatively new code editor. It will take some time to mature and build a good community fan following.
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