Best Online Code Editors for Web Developers
Introduction
If you are looking for the best online code editors, we have compiled a list of the best online code editors for web developers.
What is an online code editor?
An online code editor is a tool that resides on a remote server and allows developers to access the tool through a browser to create applications. We can divide them into two types, the simpler ones that have basic features and are more similar to plain text editors, and the more complicated ones that are more similar to complete IDEs. In this article, we will go through both types.
What are the benefits of using an online code editor?
- No setup required
- No download required
- You get an IDE installed and configured
- Easily share and collaborate using URLs only
- In most cases free or very cheap
What to keep in mind when choosing an online code editor?
- How fast the application works
- Which programming languages it supports
- Is it free or what does it offer as free
- Ease of setup
- Integrations with repository managers
- Does it have NPM support
- Custom text and layout settings
- Terminal support
Let’s look at a list of the best online code editors that help with web development.
CodePen
CodePen is the most popular code editor and focuses on writing and sharing HTML, CSS, and JavaScript code online. It is very fast and easy to use, which probably makes it the most popular code editor.
It is commonly used to create and test web applications in front-end development. The interface is separate for HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, thus helping the developer to focus on each of them at a time. All changes to the code can be seen live as you type.
CodePen is completely free and it is not necessary to create an account to use it. This way you can very quickly and efficiently start writing code and creating new web applications directly from your web browser.
CodePen allows you to create and share projects (pens) easily via a URL. It is possible to create a collection of pens, view the latest ones, and follow other developers. CodePen allows the use of preprocessors such as SASS and LESS for CSS or Babel for JavaScript, it is also possible to import various JavaScript libraries such as jQuery.
Available at: CodePen
StackBlitz
StackBlitz is very similar to Visual Studio Code which is great if you have used VS Code before. This online editor is useful when you need a boilerplate or starter project using your favorite web development library or framework.
StackBlitz supports much more than HTML, CSS and JavaScript. It is possible to create projects using React, Angular, Vue, Svelte, and many others. It also provides support for TypeScript, vanilla JavaScript, or just HTML5. It is also possible to create full-stack projects.
The editor is integrated with GitHub so it can connect to any public GitHub repository. It also has support for NPM dependency management. All StackBlitz applications are automatically deployed on their servers and hosted for free.
Available at: StackBlitz
CodeSandbox
CodeSandbox provides an online code editor and sandboxed environment for front-end development. The complete development environment offers various features and code templates which makes code writing faster and easier.
CodeSandbox can serve as a prototyping tool. Like StackBlitz, it allows you to create projects using web development libraries and frameworks. It is also possible to connect to GitHub projects and edit them using CodeSandbox. In addition, it supports NPM library management and linking various libraries using CDN.
CodeSandbox allows you to deploy the production version of the app directly from the editor to some of the more well-known providers such as Netlify, Vercel, and GitHub Pages which is fantastic. In addition, it is possible to create a team environment where multiple developers can collaborate in real-time and edit the same code.
Available at: CodeSandbox
JSFiddle
JSFiddle is another popular online editor that helps with web development. It cannot replace full-fledged text editors but handles frontend scripts well. It is possible to create projects using pure JavaScript, HTML5, or a framework such as React, Angular, Vue, or some other. You can use libraries using the CDN and customize the editor layout. JSFiddle also allows multiple developers to collaborate and work on the same code.
Available at: JSFiddle
JS Bin
One of the oldest online code editors for web development is JS Bin. It is usually used to create prototypes using HTML, JavaScript, and CSS. Of course, external libraries for jQuery, React, Angular, Vue, or some others can also be used. JS Bin has a quick and easy interface, each code snippet can be tested in a browser and then exported to a text file. Since popular HTML, CSS, and JavaScript frameworks can be imported, modern pages and web applications can be easily created which makes JS Bin no worse than other online code editors.
Available at: JSBin
GitPod
Gitpod is a cloud code editor or IDE (Integrated Development Environment), a collaborative environment that allows you to connect to the git repository and edit the code. It offers integrations with GitHub, GitLab, and Bitbucket. If you’ve used Visual Studio Code and you like it, then Gitpod is a good choice as it offers all the major back-end and front-end languages and frameworks.
Gitpod is a development environment as code, which allows automation, version-control, and sharing developer environments (workspaces) across your team. Once you create a workspace, you will be able to edit and run the code using your preferred online editors. You can choose between Visual Studio Code and Theia Editor.
Available at: GitPod
GitHub CodeSpaces
GitHub CodeSpaces is a cloud-based online hosting environment designed to use Visual Studio Code for development. It is a tool that allows you to open codespace via Visual Studio Code online directly from the GitHub repository and make changes.
Available at: GitHub CodeSpaces
PlayCode
PlayCode is an online editor that is primarily designed for JavaScript-based projects. It is commonly used for prototyping in web development. It is possible to create a complete web development project using HTML, CSS, or one of the libraries and frameworks.
Available at: PlayCode
AWS Cloud9
Cloud9 is one of the first browser-based IDEs to offer serious features. Today, Cloud9 is part of Amazon’s AWS offerings, however, it can be used for free if the Amazon EC2 instance is originally used.
Cloud9 supports JavaScript, Python, PHP, and a couple of other programming languages. Provides code collaboration and code environment sharing through a few clicks. AWS Cloud9 makes it easy to write and debug serverless applications.
Available at: AWS Cloud9
W3Schools TryIt
If you have been studying web development for some time, you must have met the W3Schools site and their Tryit code editor at some point. Their code editor can also be used and is very simple. Supports Java, Python, JavaScript and many others.
Available at: W3Schools TryIt
Replit
Replit is free and represents a collaborative IDE within the browser. Supports over 50 programming languages. It is a quality tool for quickly starting, sharing, and developing projects in any programming language, all directly from the browser. No deployment of projects is required as the projects will be hosted immediately.
Available at: Replit
Glitch
Glitch is an incredibly good and simple online editor. There is no need to make a configuration or deployment, from the moment you create a new project your Glitch application is live, after which you can share or embed it anywhere. The point is that developers focus on creating the application and therefore Glitch handles all the setup.
Available at: Glitch
Conclusion
So, this was a list of the best online code editors for web development in 2021. You can choose the one that best suits your needs.
This is not a complete list, of course, there are other online code editors you can use, these are the ones we have singled out as the best, most popular, and the ones we recommend.
We hope you found this list useful.
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