Truly platform-independent Web Development Environment that really rocks
Monday, July 31, 2006 12:49:56 AM
Have you heard of Aptana, the Web IDE? It is based on the Eclipse platform, which I have been already using for Web development since I dumped Windows for good a few months ago.
And I really have to say that I've been missing Dreamweaver during all this time, honestly. I even have to confess that I cheated for a few days and I used it while on a friend's machine, and I felt delighted. Why is it that Macromedia then (and Adobe now) don't do it for Linux? People would really pay for it.
But Aptana is platform-agnostic and it's free (as in speech and as in beer), just like Eclipse. It is available as a standalone download (with or without the bundled JRE in some cases) and it is also available as a plugin for an existing Eclipse installation. It features code completion in all of the Web trio: HTML, CSS and JavaScript. It is Ajax-oriented and is also aware of several popular JavaScript toolkits and libraries, such as MochiKit, Dojo, AFLAX and my personal choice, Yahoo! UI.
Code-completion pop-up list-boxes show the available tags/attributes/functions/css (depending on the context) along with browser-compatibility icons on the right, so that you can readily see if you are about to use an IE-only or a Gecko-only feature. If you are a Web-standards kind of guy like me, then you'll love it. Here's a screenshot for those who didn't understand this bleeding-edge feature.
And a small note before finishing. Eclipse has another web development toolkit available for everyone: The Web Tools Platform, which is an alternative and a choice. I discovered both recently and I personally prefer Aptana, but having a choice is nice. Feel free to try both, no matter if you're Windows, Linux or Mac. The Open-Source Web Development Environment is here.
Home page
...and common download options.
Blog
Stay up-to-date about Aptana.
Downloads
Detailed download page with additional options.
Screenshots
A good place to have a quick glance ot the main features.
Screencasts
Here you can get a more detailed view at it before downloading. Watch videos to see what it's like to use it.
And that's all. Enjoy it!














Ozzie AlfonsoOzzieA # Tuesday, September 12, 2006 5:02:53 AM
Oz
Ernestognapse # Tuesday, September 19, 2006 12:16:37 AM
I continue to write ocassionally because I like it. Yes, a bit of attention from other people would be encouraging, but I still like to write here every once in a while, even if no one reads me. It's liberating!
Ozzie AlfonsoOzzieA # Friday, February 9, 2007 5:56:34 PM