Introducing Aptana

Here's another very promising open-source web development tool I've come across in my month of feverish web development - the Aptana IDE. Aptana is an integrated development environment for HTML/CSS/JavaScript projects, built on the Eclipse desktop. It's a major step towards bringing to web development the same kinds of tools we take for granted in java, Delphi, or C++. Aptana provides code-assist for html, CSS ,and JavaScript, including your own JavaScript functions and libraries. Syntax checking in all three languages. Support for user-developed macros ("actions" they call them) written in JavaScript to manipulate your code. An outliner that shows you the structure of your HTML, CSS, or JavaScript file, and lets you jump right to an element or function. Take a look at their little demo video. The product is still in beta, and indeed the developers consider it at version 0.2. What's glaringly missing -- though planned for a later release -- is a JavaScript debugger. This is a must have; it's absence means that in the meantime you'll want to use Aptana in conjunction with the SplineTech JavaScript Debugger, which I reviewed here a few weeks ago. With an integrated debugger, Aptana will leave pure script debugging tools like SplineTech in the dust. And even without the debugger, this is a great editor to use for your next web-project. I found three problems in my CSS by simply openning the style sheet in Aptana. Aptana is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux. Download it and take a look.