
Ask HN: Is there a reasonable, actually integrated Web IDE out there? - dakami
It&#x27;s kind of silly.  There are design tools that don&#x27;t let you write JavaScript.  There are JavaScript tools that don&#x27;t let you write server side JavaScript (or any other language).  There are server aware tools that don&#x27;t let you run on your own servers.  And that&#x27;s before discussion of collaboration et al.<p>Is there a reasonable workflow out there?
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mevile
If you set up a node.js project with Webstorm through the Webstorm UI and
deploy with a plugin or built in feature you've pretty much get the most fully
integrated IDE there is for node projects. It has testing built in, debugging
inside the IDE, dynamic updates your browser, supports a ton of JavaScript
libraries and npm as well as React and ES6/ES7 syntax. There's nothing else
really like it.

IntelliJ based browsers haven't been slow in a long time, but they're even
faster now, just be sure you exclude node_modules and library directories by
right clicking them and things will move pretty quickly.

~~~
TimJRobinson
Just wanted to note that every thing you mentioned is also in Cloud9 along
with easy sharing of your sites with clients / workmates, collaboration and
deploying to production with ssh workspaces.

I switched from WebStorm (was using v9) to Cloud9 2 years ago and haven't
looked back, for most Web Development jobs it makes more sense as you don't
have to run a staging server to iterate on projects with clients (just send
them a link) and you can collaborate in seconds.

I now work at Cloud9 :) after using it a while I was convinced working online
where all your tools work together in the cloud is the future. It's way easier
to integrate it with the rest of your work flow when you don't have that
desktop cloud barrier.

~~~
mevile
> Cloud 9

I appreciate the work you guys do on Ace, it's amazing technology. I've built
things with the Ace editor, but it's ridiculous to suggest than an editor that
doesn't even edit the files on my computer has feature parity with Webstorm,
an IntelliJ IDEA based editor. The PSI based AST system is smarter and better
than Visual Studio and XCode, and IntelliJ IDEA is better technology than
Apple or Microsoft was able to come up with for their own platforms. The
number of plugins, the built in features, the fact it runs on my own computer
make it unquestionably better than an editor that runs in a browser.

You disservice to a great web editor by suggesting it's better than a native
editor like IntelliJ. I write front-end code for a living and in no shape or
form would I ever want to use the Ace editor when I didn't have to. It works
for sites like CodePen, GitHub and jsfiddle when they're needed, it doesn't
replace writing code on my own computer.

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sytse
You probably mean for web projects. If you mean a browser based IDE instead
your options are Koding, Nitrous.io, Cloud9, CodeAnywhere, Codio, and CodeEnvy
(that is into Eclipse Che). We're integrating Koding with GitLab to give a
very integrated workflow [https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-
ce/issues/12759](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/12759)

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d--b
Visual Studio and Webstorm are the most complete I'd say. Surely you can use
Eclipse or IntelliJ (with kotlyn).

\--

Wait, when you say "web ide", do you mean "to make web projects" or do you
mean "web-based ide"?

~~~
mr_O
> do you mean "to make web projects" or do you mean "web-based ide"?

That is a really interesting question.

For 1: If you have no money try NetBeans / Eclipse. In my experience eclipse
can be a pain in the ass if you need certain plugins etc. Sometimes you have
to search the web for repo-adresses that are compatible with your IDE-version
and the other plugins and if you don't use a new version you may have trouble
installing plugins from the marketplace. NB is pretty good for open source
software and I prefer it to Eclipse.

If you have the money / are a student (who don't have to pay), just use
WebStorm / IntelliJ Idea. It is a really superior IDE and you don't want to
use anything else once you tried the integration / workflow with it, it's just
beautiful how things 'just work'.

For 2: I checked out codio, but the price is really expensive and I'd rather
use intelliJ etc. Depending on what you want to write something like Firefox
Web IDE doesn't look that bad
([https://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/Tools/WebIDE](https://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/Tools/WebIDE)).
For the web I think the best thing would be to port atom.io to a webApp. This
would be the next awesome thing ;-)

~~~
blackoil
Visual Studio Community is also a free option. It is mostly feature complete,
except few centered around enterprises.

[https://www.visualstudio.com/en-us/products/visual-studio-
co...](https://www.visualstudio.com/en-us/products/visual-studio-community-
vs.aspx)

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parisk
Hi dakami,

I think that SourceLair
([https://www.sourcelair.com](https://www.sourcelair.com)) could fit your
needs.

It let's you work on Node.js web applications in your browser and write both
client side (including React JSX) and server side JavaScript.

You also get an HTTPS public URL (subdomain) that works out of the box with
Node.js, while it integrates with Git and GitHub in order to collaborate and
lets you deploy your projects to Heroku with a single click.

You can try it out for free at
[https://www.sourcelair.com](https://www.sourcelair.com).

Disclaimer: I am one of the people who co-founded and built SourceLair.

~~~
michaelwww
I'm one of those who won't sign up to try something. Let me try without any
friction. If I like it, I'll sign up to try more advanced features and if
those fit my needs I'll probably purchase. If I sign up to try and it doesn't
seem to be what was promised, it just feels like you are collecting my email.

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daurnimator
Cloud 9? [https://c9.io/](https://c9.io/)

~~~
bhanu423
I have been using C9 for years now and I found it to be the best of the lot.
Its a shame, I cannot afford the premium subscription for now but would love
to pay them for their gratitude and awesome product.

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ivan_burazin
Hi Guys, I am the cofounder of Codeanywhere.com , so I can't say we are the
best, but I would definitely appreciate it if you tried us out. We use
Codeanywhere to actually build Codeanywhere; frontend, backend and even
mobile. Also I always love to hear feedback.

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TylerJewell
I would encourage you to check out Eclipse Che and Eclipse Orion. Eclipse Che
will let you set up your own hosted workspace. Eclipse Orion is embedded
within Che and provides language extensions for JavaScript and Web
development. The technology are platform-centric, so there is a lot of
embedded use by vendors packaging new products. They are the platform for SAP
Hana, Samsung ARTIK IDE, OpenShift IDE, VSTS. There are various other projects
happening within the Cisco, Salesforce, Mongo, Go, C++, SAS communities. Che
and Orion have hosted versions run by Codenvy & Eclipse, respectively. Both
services are free on the hosted front. I am the project leader for Che & CEO
of Codenvy.

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zmmmmm
If you can overlook the RAM consumption and occasional slowness, Eclipse is
actually a pretty amazing tool as an integrated platform. I routinely edit
client side, server side, HTML, CSS and multiple back end languages (python,
PHP, Groovy) all in a single integrated setup including integrated debugging
etc. I think for single language stuff there's nearly always something better,
but at pulling it together I don't know anything as good as Eclipse (probably
Visual Studio might be but I have not used recent versions in that capacity).

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oxdigital
Although their focus has shifted to education, Codio is my favourite Web IDE

[https://codio.com/features/ide/](https://codio.com/features/ide/)

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dochtman
Maybe have a look at this Mozilla stuff?

[http://blog.humphd.org/thimble-and-bramble/](http://blog.humphd.org/thimble-
and-bramble/)

~~~
dakami
No apparent backend integration.

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cellis
Sublime Text 3 with a build system ( I simply press cmd+b to run a standalone
javascript file there on the spot in ST3 ), and node-debug to debug standalone
scripts (from the command line with iTerm). Works amazingly.

Everything else, command line. I used to be the biggest IDE fan ( had my
Eclipse kitted out with 4GB allocated, all the hotkeys, etc ), but I don't do
Java or AS3 programming anymore and even though sometimes i still find myself
missing certain types of autocompletion, I've started to become jaded on the
concept of IDEs as the command line is just so much more versatile and memory
efficient. Sublime Text and the command line are really all you need these
days, unless you're doing C#/C++ ( in which case I'd suggest Visual Studio )
or iphone native (Xcode obvi).

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mozumder
I use XCode to edit JS/HTML/CSS for front-end and Python for back-end, all
with Git integration.

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spdegabrielle
This thing? [https://hyperdev.com](https://hyperdev.com)

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ccvannorman
I once met someone named James Robey who was working on dom algebra, an os
that works entirely out of html dom tags (no javascript). I saw him use a
working demo of it online, but it may have evaporated.. feel free to google!
;-]

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ganomi
As a free alternative to let's say WebStorm i have been using NetBeans for
some time. It integrates HTML, JS, Angular and CSS in a usable way and has
many plugins (browser js debugging, nodejs). It is worth a try.

~~~
brett40324
Ditto. I naively ignored netbeans for years, and I regret not using it sooner.
Its impressively robust for web development.

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tvvocold
[https://ide.coding.net](https://ide.coding.net)

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dafrankenstein2
Though its not an IDE, you can try using Visual Studio Code. This is free,
open source and works in both Windows and Linux and have plugins
available.Moreover, it itself is built using Javascript.

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TimJRobinson
Have you used Cloud9? It sounds like exactly what you're looking for. If you
have and didn't like it what was it missing? (I work for Cloud9)

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devsquid
Web Storm owns :)

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adelarsq
I use Vim for everything, since Web development until server side, actually
for Node, Java, Rust and Python.

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probinso
RStudioServer

