Although we like the offline web development editor and IDE, we often hate the inconvenience of editing the code and then open the browser to test the changes. Even if you open a browser tab with a test file, you must constantly jump from one editor to another and refresh the tab before any changes are displayed in the output. Hence we tend to work on sites that display output in real time.
Conveniently, the editable code and the testable output are displayed sides by the side. Another fun of these online playgrounds is the vast network of web designers and developers who publish code snippets for worldwide reference.
1. CodePen
CodePen is one of my favorite code editors. CodePen has some cool and unique features that make it one of the most popular online code editors in web development.
The features of CodePen are:
- Preview HTML, CSS and JavaScript in real time
- You can use the syntax of the preprocessor like Sass, LESS, Stylus. Markdown, Haml, Slim, Jade
- Use the CodePen portfolio to showcase your talents and design your own portfolio home page.
- You can find part-time jobs using the Hire Me to feature service.
- Any resource can be embedded on any other website.
2. Dabblet
Dabblet’s interface is very simple and not complicated to operate. It is especially suitable for beginners and front end sieges who want to try the latest HTML5 tags and CSS3 styles. A big feature of Dabblet is that you can avoid CSS prefixes when writing code. Because, Lea Verou (the author of the tool) is the author of the CSS- prefixed JavaScript script – prefix-free, and it is certainly logical for Dabblet to have this feature. Switching between HTML and CSS code is also very convenient. Click on the tab at the top right of the toolbar. Users can adjust the preview of the front end code according to their habits, and the full-screen preview in the browser will open in the new tab.
Dabblet supports logging in with a Github account. The code snippet can be saved either anonymously or in the user’s Github: gist so that users can embed the code snippet into their site or share it with others.
3.Thimble
Mozilla’s HTML/CSS online interactive learning site, Thimble: Edit on the left, live preview on the right, with lots of real-world examples. The site is part of Mozilla’s recently launched Webmaker program, designed to help regular users learn HTML and CSS online.
Thimble provides a two-panel design with code editing with syntax highlighting on the left and a web page preview in real time on the right. If the user is satisfied with the results, it can be published by the blue “Publish” button at the top right. Share your design with your friends via the Twitter Post button provided.
4. JSFiddle
JSFiddle is a veteran online JavaScript code debugging tool. Support JavaScript, CSS, HTML code visual online debugging tools, support a variety of applications, a variety of mainstream frameworks, very convenient to use, but also can be debugged results directly embedded in other web pages with very simple pages.
In addition to debugging code, you can easily post to the community, forum or social media to share or ask questions with friends. A lot of different class libraries are integrated for everyone to choose.
5. CSSDesk
CSSDesk tool is a standard CSS sandbox, which can give CSS beginners the greatest help. The website is divided into three columns. We can easily modify the code on the left side to see the changes of a CSS attribute to the HTML element. Impact, even we can put the entire site into it for debugging, and save the debugged file as HTML. The only regret is the lack of code hints, which require manual input of CSS properties.
6. CodeMirror
Another “Online Source Editor”, based on Javascript, short and precise, real-time online code highlighting, he is not a subsidiary of a rich text editor, he is the base library of many famous online code editors.
It can be seen that the author of CodeMirror is a person who is very yearning for freedom. But his CodeMirror is definitely not simple, take a look at the following list:
- Google Earth KML sampler
- Eloquent JavaScript’s console
- The qooxdoo playground
- A cool tutorial about the element
- An online IDE for the Orc programming language
- Google’s API playground
- Raphaël Live
- JS Bin
- The RokPad plugin for Joomla
- The scraperwiki editor
- jsLinb UI Builder
These online code editors are based on CodeMirror, and I am not surprised. There is a JS Library that you are familiar with.
The positioning of CodeMirror itself is also very clear, short and fine, but the code quality is very high. In the group of Google Group, people are enthusiastically carrying out the discussion of various transformations with CodeMirror, which is welcome to him.
If you have a project that requires online code editing, what are you waiting for? CodeMirror is definitely your best choice.
7. JS Bin
JSBin is a web application that is primarily used to help test code snippets for JavaScript and CSS. Features are consistent with the jsFiddle website.
8. encoder
An encoder is a web-based code editor developed in PHP and JavaScript. It includes: real-time syntax highlighting, a file browser, a file uploader and a tagging system that enables simultaneous editing of multiple files on the server.
9. Codeanywhere
Codeanywhere is an online code editor, you can write HTML, CSS, javascript, PHP, XML code in the browser, currently supports Chrome, Firefox, Opera, Safari, IE, of course, you can also install code anywhere on Android, iPhone Software.
The feature of Codeanywhere is that you can write code anytime, anywhere (although I think the code on the phone is a bit funny).
Codeanywhere supports connecting to FTP Server, Dropbox, Github, such as Dropbox. You only need to have an account. After connecting to Dropbox, Codeanywhere can create files such as HTML on Dropbox. The code you write is stored on Dropbox.
10. AWS Cloud9 IDE
The Cloud9 IDE is an application for testing Node.js and JavaScript platforms, but also supports Python, Ruby, and Apache+PHP, such as WordPress. A few days ago I shared the Nitrous.io space that supports Node.js, Python, Go, Rails and other programming languages. Soon a friend wrote an email to the Horde, telling Cloud9 to run the application instance longer than Nitrous.io.
The programming languages ​​supported by Cloud9 are Node.js, HTML5, PHP, Python/Django, Ruby on Rails, C/C++, StrongLoop, FTP, SSH, and space hosting. There are MySQL, MongoDB, SQLite databases, and WordPress can be installed with one click. You can also upload the program code yourself, support collaborative editing cooperation, and integrate with other cloud spaces.
Cloud9 supports the one-click release of code to the cloud space of Heroku, Windows Azure, Google App Engine, CloudFoundry, etc., and can also be applied to the Github space. In addition, Cloud9 space does not support binding its own domain name, and can not permanently keep the application online. In addition, Cloud9 space is good for testing programs and code.
Conclusion
These are the 10 best JavaScript online editors we have recommended for you. Some of them are pure JavaScript code editors, some support multiple languages, and some provide full IDEs. Contact us to hire our hire front end developers to know more about your favorite IDE.
