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up vote 6 down vote favorite
1

I am looking for a source code editor with the support for:

  • Javascript, HTML, CSS
  • Syntax Highlighting, Auto-completion, Source formatting (for the above languages)
  • 'Projects' where you can define project directories, and open all files you were last using on the project by opening a 'project'
  • preferably portable (under 999mb)

Basically Notepad++ with built-in support for Javascript, HTML, CSS, syntax highlighting, auto completion, source formatting and projects.

I need it to be free, and run on Windows 7.

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7 Answers 7

up vote 4 down vote accepted

I'd suggest Adobe Brackets

  • Javascript, HTML, CSS -- It was made for those languages.

  • Syntax Highlighting, Auto-completion, Source formatting (for the above languages) -- All built in.

  • 'Projects' where you can define project directories, and open all files you were last using on the project by opening a 'project' -- It opens the last file you were working on in the project; it only opens one file at a time. The tree is quick to load, though.

  • portable (under 999mb) -- The portable version isn't official yet, but the source is available. Also, some people have had success with making it portable themselves. Here is the PortableApps version.

Your miles may vary, but it works pretty well when I use it.

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1  
This is one of the best editors I've ever come across. It has live preview in Chrome as well! Works great on USB and installed version. I'm marking this as the answer - it's great! –  ṧнʊß Jul 30 at 12:12
up vote 8 down vote

You can use Sublime Text which does Syntax Highlighting, Auto-completion, Source formatting, is organized by folder (which is pretty much a project) and can be used for web programming. It is free (the trial has no limit in time or features), works on Windows and a portable version is available.

Sublime's interface is faster than Eclipse, however its autocompletion is limited without plugins.

Unfortunately, it is not free however there is a time-unlimited trial. enter image description here

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Note however, that the autocomplete feature is quite flaky, simply suggesting any word on your file. Wither way, it can be fixed with plugins. –  Kroltan Jul 29 at 20:48
1  
I know a web developer who uses this. –  Pharap Jul 30 at 8:10
    
So, time-unlimited trial = something like winrar? Do I get an annoying notification like in WinRar after 30 days? –  ṧнʊß Jul 30 at 9:54
    
It doesn't matter what the visual effect is; if the requirement is that the software be free, then Sublime doesn't meet it. –  moopet Jul 30 at 10:43
    
@moopet It's free (in terms of usage), so I'm asking whether it shows a message saying 'please buy'. For extra information before I download it. What's the problem in that? –  ṧнʊß Jul 30 at 12:08
up vote 5 down vote

You can use Netbeans, which does Syntax Highlighting, Auto-completion, Source formatting, is organized by project and can be used for web programming. It is free, works on Windows and can be made portable.

enter image description here

enter image description here

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up vote 4 down vote

There are many tools which can accomplish that.

I personally liked Eclipse IDE for JavaScript developers. I also used Eclipse for Java with HTML/JS plugins to achieve the same thing. It supports tabs, projects, and many other things. It works on Windows, Linux, Mac OS X.

The only downside of Eclipse is that some users find it too heavy when used on low specs PCs.

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Eclipse is portable. I'm running it from external drive for my own purposes. It's also under 999MB (my own Eclipse configuration with my own plugins is about 170MB). –  nochkin Jul 29 at 15:59
    
I never knew that! I always thought it was a very big program! I'll try it now –  ṧнʊß Jul 29 at 16:01
    
It depends on what you consider "very big". It is huge compared to Notepad++, of course :-) But about 5-10 times smaller than MS Visual Studio 2012. –  nochkin Jul 29 at 16:03
    
Yeah, I guess it does. I'll download it when I'm on my Windows PC, and try it :) +1 for the answer! –  ṧнʊß Jul 29 at 16:04
2  
The trial has no limit in time or features, so in practice, it's free unless you want to be a donation. I have added it as an answer. –  Franck Dernoncourt Jul 29 at 20:13
up vote 3 down vote

It's still in early development, but you might want to look at Atom:

  • Javascript, HTML, CSS - Supports all of these.
  • Syntax Highlighting, Auto-completion, Source formatting (for the above languages) Supports all of these functions.
  • 'Projects' where you can define project directories, and open all files you were last using on the project by opening a 'project' - Not supported in the base version, but the project-manager package adds third-party support for project capabilities, supposedly similar to Sublime Text.
  • preferably portable (under 999mb) - The .zip of the Windows Alpha is currently 62 mb. You just need to extract it and then run Atom.exe, so I think it should be portable. Not sure where the settings are saved though.

Also, it is open source, under the MIT License and designed to be highly customizable through packages. Although still in Alpha, I think it is definitely worth keeping an eye on since it is under very active development.

Atom Editor Screenshot

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1  
The interface is great, it matches my requirements, but I found Brackets to be even better. +1 for the extra option though! –  ṧнʊß Jul 30 at 12:51
up vote 2 down vote

I recommend Cloud9. It meets and exceeds your requirements:

  • It supports Javascript, HTML, CSS, and many more
  • It has Syntax Highlighting, Auto-completion, and Source formatting, using the Ace editor that's used by sites like GitHub - in fact, Cloud9 is the "C" in "Ace"
  • Its 'Projects' are not only separate directories with remembered views, but separate machines, with views that are synced to the cloud and can be used on multiple devices (by multiple users, if you so need) simultaneously
  • As a cloud IDE, it's very portable - it can run on any machine with a (modern) web browser, and takes no space to install (0 MB).

For the last year and a half, Cloud9 has been the only IDE I do development in. They just pushed a significant overhaul last week, so even if you've checked it out before, take a look!

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The homepage looks great! But I can't get the website to respond! It opens my dashboard, and then Chrome says 'do you want to kill this tab'. Know any solutions? –  ṧнʊß Jul 30 at 10:08
    
The dashboard takes about 20 seconds to load for me (the actual workspaces are quite fast): if you've waited a few minutes and it still hasn't loaded, you can contact support by tweeting @C9Support, emailing [email protected], or going to c9.io/support/reportabug –  Stuart P. Bentley Jul 30 at 11:53
    
Yeah, I might have to contact support... –  ṧнʊß Jul 30 at 11:55
up vote 1 down vote

If you are interested in the browser based IDE, you may want to check out https://codenvy.com/

It supports several development environments including HTML/JS. I played with it some time ago and found it pretty responsive and nice feature-wise.

Also, I used https://koding.com/ long time ago and I was about to recommend it, but it seems like this is not free anymore so it will not match your requirements. However, while researching for others, I found the following table: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_JavaScript_IDE

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Looks good. I was interested in an online one. Cloud9 did not work, but Codenvy's great! +1 –  ṧнʊß Jul 30 at 17:50

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