Hi, i am new to php coding. i am using netbeans 6.5, which has inbuilt support for PHP. but i want to know the best IDE only for php, that compiles php files on my local server and allows other facilities. thanks
I would strongly recommend NuSphere PhpED for anyone's web-coding needs, it will save you so much time and it makes coding fun and easy. You can view your pages as you edit them too, and it comes with a PHP debugger. It will also tell you if you have a syntax error before you save the file. It has easy-complete features too, for example when you type '<' a drop-down list with all the HTML tags comes up - like Google/YouTube's search autocomplete. You've also got a FTP client, a MySQL client and the PHP manual a click away.
Topunit, What's the learning curve like for this application? I mostly program using a WYSIWYG html editor (I can hand edit when I need to.) and TextPad.
NuSphere has my vote. Of course asking a question like you did will just get every IDE listed here. Check out the online reviews and do your own php ide qualitative analysis. Check out: http://www.php-editors.com/
There's no learning curve; just open the program, type some code and enjoy the features. All of the items you see in the code navigator are automatically generated. It's not a WYSIWYG editor, it's a proper code editor, but there is a page-preview feature.
NuSphere phpEd seems to be the closest to an acceptable IDE. I have tried Eclipse, it doesn't even have a html or text palette, i couldn't even find a plugin for it that worked. Before NuSphere i had been using EditPlus (and still do), it's way ahead of any other editors I can think of, such as Notepad++.
I use NuSphere PhpED. Eclipse with the PHP plugin is the second choice. I tried phpDesigner, but did not like the user interface. I would like to try VS.Php http://www.jcxsoftware.com/vs.php, so I can do both PHP and .NET development in one IDE. It's a matter of preference of course.
i feel like an idiot. i've been editing my php in Notepad (thinking there was nothing else lol) like I've done my html for awhile now.
SublimeText3 for me. I hear PHPStorm is nice for a PHP specific IDE. There are no best options. It just depends on your individual needs. For instance, I personally like code completion, a darker theme, syntax highlights, multi line edit, and some additional helpers to make sure I'm not typing spelling errors on variables and other functions. Which pretty much is any coding editor...
Why do you need an IDE for a pretty-much straight forward HyperText processor? There are no complicated language constructors, nor is there much of anything you cannot do with just a simple text-editor - SublimeText 3, Notepad++, Atom, or a myriad of other well-thought-out text-editors. SublimeText also has an extensive package library, which easily lets you install extra functionality you may need, like FTP-integration, Github, SCSS builds, and much, much more.