I have been searching for the perfect web development IDE for some time now. I first started coding with notepad when all I wrote was HTML. Clearly, that was a relationship not meant to last.
Eventually I discovered Notepad++ and the wonderful syntax highlighting that it does. However, I got frustrated when I started working with server-side code and eventually moved to Netbeans, which I have been using for about a year now.
I enjoy using Netbeans quite a bit. The syntax highlighting is fantastic, the ability to push a button and step through your server side code (once you get your apache server set up properly). And the diff engine on it is fantastic for viewing code side by side. I dislike the learning curve (it seems awfully steep to me), and I’ve recently wanted to try Zen coding, which I can’t do with Netbeans.
So, I am looking for an IDE that allows stepping through server side code, and the ability to install plugins such as zencoding. A good Diff engine would be fantastic (but not a dealbreaker), and making code versioning a bit easier would also be points for it.
Here are some choices: