Author: Dustin Brewer

I have used Dreamweaver for a long time now, before that just like most in the field it was notepad. I used to not need anything fancy but the more I learned about Dreamweaver the more I liked. For instance, the ability to create keyboard shortcuts for custom snippets was endlessly handy. It is the one feature I have yet to find done decently in any other software. I also like auto-complete because when it is done right it saves you tons of keystrokes.

However, Dreamweaver has it's own HTML viewer that doesn't render like anything else. The closest product that it resembles is IE6, which we all know doesn't understand CSS. So the bulk of Dreamweaver has always bothered me for the little uses I get out of it.

So I went on a search to find the best solution with the best case scenario being an open source product that has either cross-operating system functionality or versions of the software available for the major operating systems (Linux, OSX and Windows). I was also looking for the editor to be able to have auto-complete, custom snippets, custom keyboard shortcuts, compatibility with HTML, CSS, PHP, Ruby and JavaScript as well as any other languages that I may want to pick up or use in a pinch.

Most of the other programs I had tried didn't have very good code highlighting. The bulk of the programs I used seemed entirely too simple but without any of the features I needed. Most didn't have code auto-completion and none really had a solid way to do custom keyboard shortcuts.

What I found above most others ( TextPad , EditPad , e , nvu , etc) was that Aptana IDE was one of the best products to meet my demands. It even exceeds my demands in most areas. Although it is a large program (90mb) it does offer a vast array of features, including being available for Linux, OSX and Windows.

It has some nice code completion features that help power users as well as some really basic tutorials for the product for beginners. One of the really nice features that Aptana IDE brings to the table is its very powerful snippets system. You can custom design the snippet to take the highlighted text you have and put it anywhere you want (as many times as you want) in a full length, custom-coded snippet.

It does not however have custom keyboard shortcuts yet, they are working on developing them however and do have a work around for those dedicated to the idea. I haven't tried it yet though, I'm hoping they just come out with the feature in the next versions which should be released pretty quickly.

It has auto-complete features for CSS, HTML, PHP, JavaScript, as well as many others. It even includes popular script libraries like Prototype , lightbox and Scriptalicious .

One of my favorite features about edit the files is its directory structure, it allows you to navigate anywhere on your local directory as well as mapped local directory structure. But the biggie is it allows you to use the file tree for FTP just the same as you would locally without any extra buttons to hit.

It reconnects if it has timed out and stays in the same directory you were last at even. Which is a huge benefit to save me from downloading then editing then uploading on minor changes for web sites. I haven't used the open dialog hardly at all.

All in all right now, I use Aptana for all of my code editing purposes and it has been extremely stable throughout the past few weeks which is reassuring in the fact that it is still in beta. I haven't had to use any other programs in place of Aptana, which I was afraid I might have to do. It is very easy to jump right into. There are a few settings changes you may need to make - such as setting the default DTD tag.

Now if I could just find a decent program to replace Illustrator and Photoshop ( gimp doesn't count) then I could save a fortune on software.

About the Author:
Dustin Brewer is a web designer located in Oklahoma City, OK specializing in aesthetics in design, web standards, accessibility and usability. He also enjoys helping others to discover CSS and web design best practices through his web site, dustin brewer, a web design news site .

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