Which text editor are you using for web development? Mac OSX has two possible options. If you use OS X, you’ll need a Mac OS X portable text editor. If you are developing on Windows, choose the Windows operating system version of your favorite text editor or programming text editor for Mac OSX or Windows.
The best text editors have their own syntax highlighting to help programmers with code colorization. A text editor with syntax highlighting is easier to read and understand, it saves time and effort by reducing errors in code writing.
CodeSandbox
CodeSandbox can be thought of as a much more powerful and complete take on JSFiddle. True to its name, CodeSandbox provides a complete code editor experience and a sandboxed environment for front-end development.
CodeSandbox is a real powerhouse and sweet, sweet product. I’d run out of paper if I try to list down all its advantages, but here are some killer features:
- Npm support: Yes, you can add pretty much any package that is available on npm.
- Files, folders, modules: You can split your code into multiple files, add/remove images from the public folder, and build/import modules as you see fit. The workflow mirrors that of a modern module bundler, so you don’t need to set up (almost) anything.
- Support for TypeScript, hot reloading, GitHub export, static file hosting, etc.
- It is built on Monaco editor, the same beast that powers the favorite VSCode editor. This brings powerful features like “Go To,” “Find References,” and necessary refactoring to your fingertips!
- Snippet support for Emmet
- Integrated DevTools, linting, error overlays, testing frameworks (Jest), keybindings, and more.
- Powerful CLI to directly import local projects into CodeSandbox.
While the free version of CodeSandbox doesn’t support private code, you can get that feature (and increase size limits overall) by helping them on Patreon for as little as $5 a month (pay what you want, up to $50 a month).
CodeAnywhere
One problem with most of the code editors on this list (at least so far) is that they expect you to keep the code on their servers at all times, or require you to sync code via the command line regularly.
Not so with CodeAnywhere.
At its strongest, CodeAnywhere has two features that stand out for me:
- Prebuilt container images for 72+ programming languages and frameworks. This means you can provision a new development environment right from within the editor! Of course, the code automatically gets hosted on the newly created container, and files get served directly from there.
- Connect to anything. Yes, literally anything. You’re not obliged to store your code on CodeAnywhere’s servers. Whether your code resides on FTP, file sharing platforms like Dropbox, Amazon S3, or on sophisticated version control platforms like GitHub, you can easily set up CodeAnywhere to read from and write to that source, using the code editor purely for . . . Well, code editing. 😛
One more thing I feel like pointing out: if you’re not comfortable with Git when it comes to viewing history and differences, CodeAnywhere might feel like a sigh of relief. The editor uses its diff system for comparing files, which allows you to compare two files across any two revisions (a revision is created every time you save a file).
There’s a slight catch with revisions, though — the free version allows you to maintain only one revision, while the smallest paid plan allows 20 revisions at most. Generally speaking, it’s not a problem as you rarely want to look beyond the last 20th revision, but since most programmers have a habit of hitting Save a few times a minute, it can become painful.
All said and done, CodeAnywhere is a solid, pleasant offering for those who want to move to the cloud and stay there. 🙂 Since its powers span beyond front-end code, in my opinion, it’s highly recommended!
CodePen
Probably the most popular online code editor. CodePen is fast, easy to use, and allows a web developer to write and share HTML/CSS/JS code online.
CodePen is free and creating an account isn’t mandatory, so you can start writing code and create a new web application straight from your web browser quickly and efficiently.
→ https://codepen.io/
Code Sandbox
Code Sandbox is an amazing online code editor that allows developers to quickly create applications using modern programming languages and technologies such as Angular.js, Vue.js and React.
This complete development environment is loaded with many features and code templates that will definitely make your coding faster and easier.
→ https://codesandbox.io/
Code Share
As its name suggests, CodeShare is an online code editor with an emphasis on sharing code. It is an extremely useful tool for developers to share code with others, troubleshoot code together, and for teachers to show students how to code in real time.
CodeShare supports syntax highlighting for 50+ languages, and features a video chat option which is incredibly useful when working remotely with a colleague.
→ https://codeshare.io/
JS Fiddle
While JSFiddle can’t replace a full-fledged text editor, it does a damn good job of handling one-off frontend scripts.
It’s so popular that Q&A sites like StackOverflow already support the embedding of JSFiddle links directly in their platform.
For a few years now, JS Fiddle has been a very popular choice for developers wanting to write and share code online. While it can’t replace a desktop or command line editor like Vim, it is 100% free and provides tons of boilerplates (jQuery, Vue, Reac, React + JSX, Preact, TypeScript, CoffeeScript, SCSS, CSS Grid, Bootstrap, PostCSS) to get started quickly.
JSFiddle offers some boilerplates at the start; which means if you want to get a demo of, say, React, started, all you need to do is click the relevant button and start writing the code. Once you hit Save, the “fiddle” gets saved you get a permanent URL (Check out this silly fiddle I created: https://jsfiddle.net/tuqd76c4/ and note that you can make your changes and press Save to create a new version of this URL).
Here’s what makes JSFiddle a viable platform for front-end web development:
- Free to use (no hidden fee or freemium features). JSFiddle supports itself through ads (at least as of writing), and you can see an Adobe ad in the lower left of the screenshot above.
- Code collaboration features — ideal for building concepts together, interviews, etc.
- Multiple layouts, font sizes, light/dark themes, etc.
- Code formatting (tidying), upcoming support for linters (CSS and JS), and more.
And now, sob, sob, for the bad stuff:
- JSFiddle is a purely front-end editor. There’s no way to code and run your favorite backend language.
- There’s no concept of files and folders here (or uploads, for that matter). All you have is a single space for code, no matter how much of it there is.
- JSFiddle cannot be used to host code on your server. The code has to be on JSFiddle and is public all the time.
- There’s no way to build a CI/CD pipeline, use Git, etc.
That said, JSFiddle has its sweet spot and shines when you need to dish out proofs-of-concept and collaborate at the speed of light. It is and will remain a major identity among online editors.
JSBin
As you can guess, JSBin is an online text editor primarily focused on Javascript, with a fast and simple interface. Each of your code snippets can be tested through your web browser, and then exported into a text file.
Another good thing to note is that JSBin can import popular HTML/CSS/JS frameworks such as jQuery and Bootstrap, allowing you to easily create modern pages and web applications.
Play Code
Similar to CodePen, Play Code is a fast and intuitive online text editor for front-end web development. This handy tool allows you to use libraries for HTML, CSS and JavaScript (jQuery, React, Vue, etc) while letting you see the result in real time.
This great online editor features templates for working with popular web development frameworks and allows logged in users to save and share code.
TryIt Editor
Brought to you by W3Schools, TryIt editor lets users edit HTML, CSS and JavaScript code, and view the result in their browser. This online editor is very simple and doesn’t feature as many options as some others mentioned in our list, but it’s still a great tool, especially for testing new ideas and techniques.
→ https://www.w3schools.com/tryit/
EditPad
EditPad is a simple and minimal online editor for web developers. Unlike most tools featured in this article, it doesn’t feature syntax highlighting, boilerplates or project management.
EditPad is just a plain page to type your text without any distractions. While definitely not the most powerful editor for web development, this “online notepad” can be a lifesaver on a particularly slow computer.
StackBlitz
StackBlitz claims to allow you to code the future in your browser. And after trying it, I’m confident you’ll agree that this web application is extremely useful for coders.
StackBlitz features 5 workspaces: React, AngularJS, JavaScript, Ignite UI and KendoReact. Once launched, you will notice a similarity between StackBlitz and the VSCode editor, which is a good thing if you’re used to Microsoft’s editor.
Another extremely cool StackBlitz feature is that all applications get deployed automatically on their servers, and hosted for free.
Conclusion
These are the best text editors for web development available on the market right now. They were thoroughly examined using various parameters, so you can have all the information right here, in this article. You will learn not only which one is the best, but also how they differ from one another, what are their main features, which one is more convenient to use for different cases, etc.