Closed. This question does not meet Stack Overflow guidelines. It is not currently accepting answers.
We don’t allow questions seeking recommendations for books, tools, software libraries, and more. You can edit the question so it can be answered with facts and citations.
Closed 2 years ago.
Improve this question
There are plenty of small editors like Notepad++, vim, & SciTE - but they only work on one file at a time. In other words, they aren't aware of the whole scope of the codebase.
On the other hand, all the full IDE's I have seen which offer code-completion (over all files in a project) take a good amount of memory to run. Eclipse PDT, PHPStorm, etc..
I'm looking for a tiny IDE with nothing more than code completion and syntax coloring to move around some very limit dev systems running PHP. Is there anything like this?
Windows or Linux
Update
To clarify, if the app can't do multi-file code completion (complete code in one file, based on classes in other files) then it doesn't fit my requirements.
Netbeans is the best performing PHP editor with code completion that I have used; that said, it's by no means a lightweight editor. But I don't think any kind of editor with code completion is going to be truly lightweight.
Geany is my editor of choice. It's small, cross-platform, (GTK) and supports literally dozens of languages. (including PHP) It has syntax highlighting, code-completion and even custom "build" commands. (such as php -l for sanity checks)
Try Komodo Edit or Komodo IDE. It has all PHP assistance features included and even debugging (in IDE).
http://www.activestate.com/komodo-ide
It has some bugs like PHP variables showing up in JavaScript autocomplete.
Try the v6 beta: http://www.activestate.com/komodo-edit/downloads
I use MacVim and I often have multiple files open in separate tabs.
Vim supports syntax highlighting out of the box and code completion if you use ctags plugins.
See also:
http://linuxhelp.blogspot.com/2006/09/visual-walk-through-of-couple-of-new.html
http://blogs.gnome.org/lharris/2008/07/20/code-completion-with-vim-7/
Nusphere PHPEd. That's the one I use after horrible Java based alternatives and Zend Studio to name the waterheaded ones :P. It's blazing fast, has built in code completion library, fully customizable syntax highlighting for PHP 4.x, PHP 5.x, PHP 5.3, html, css, smarty, perl, sql, xml, c/c++, python, asp, js and who knows what else.
Highlights:
Über fast development environment.
Awesome file manager options (SFTP, SSH, etc.)
Fully customizable syntax highlighting (light/dark profiles)
Built in debugger
Fully customizable editor options (brackets, completion, whatever...)
PHP Expert Editor is a fairly small app that allows editing of multiple files, has syntax highlighting and integrates with PHP to do syntax checking. I've been using it for years.
I use notepad++ most of the time. But you could try out this free IDE which I think fits your bill Codelobster It's around 13mb
The best PHP IDE now in production would be Zend Studio, but it's not free. So the closest would be Eclipse PDT, but you don't like it.
Aptana Studio for PHP was a lot better, but was discontinued, and Aptana became an IDE for JS and Ruby now, but I tried to save what's left of it, so it's still available.
So far I didn't find anything better than Aptana Studio for PHP.
Big throwback though - it only supports syntax of PHP 5.2.
Aptana is also one of the greatest IDE for Javascript, and HTML+CSS editing is also a step further than in NetBeans (code completion for CSS selectors, based on HTML).
Aptana also has support for Smarty template engine, which is great for me.
Best part - no installation required. Just unzip and run. It only requires JRE to be installed, and most of us do have it installed. And, it may create conflicts with Eclipse projects, so for a clean experiment, open a project that contains no Eclipse service files.
SciTE is quite good for an advanced, lightweight editor. Only downside in this scenario is that you'll have to add code completion and file tree via plugins. Thankfully plugins are very simple to make.
I use sublimeText or Brackets or Atom. Their are small and do not require hight performance.
Sublime Text 3
Brackets
Atom IDE
Related
Closed. This question does not meet Stack Overflow guidelines. It is not currently accepting answers.
We don’t allow questions seeking recommendations for books, tools, software libraries, and more. You can edit the question so it can be answered with facts and citations.
Closed 6 years ago.
Improve this question
I am used to metapad (basically a more fault tolerant notepad), dreamweaver (memory hog with neat syntax highlighting, and basic error detection), and hotdog (antique, dont use this anymore!).
What I want to do is migrate to a better editor that isn't a memory hog like dreamweaver, but also is closer to the edge of production programming. I use SFTP alot with my internals, FTP basic with my external projects, and I also want to use SVN. <- Most of these protocols dont need to be built into the editor, but it would be nice.
My question is this;
I have looked at Sublime Text 2, the responsiveness is amazing, but it's broken. Alot. And every time someone mentions this. They suggest that it will be that way cause it's a "beta" release.
Is there something else that I should use that is similar or uses the same plugins? How do I make sublime more stable short of de-compiling the thing, and trying to hack it to behave with Windows? (or perhaps, Simple Text 2 is purely for Mac users?) Let me know!
My Target Market;
Speed, Lightweight (Aptana & Dreamweaver use around ~150MB memory), Keyboard intensive preferred (or at least shortcut friendly), works in portable mode (install not required)
Platforms required; Windows 7/XP, Linux CentOS 6.x (with PuTTY please?)
Platforms wanted; Android OS / Apple iOS - friendly with bluetooth support (?)
Syntax highlighting/coding specific for/with; *Important
PHP 5.x, MySQL, YUI
Syntax highlighting supported for; *Not so important
HTML, XML, and maybe.. YAML/MongoDB (?)
Works with or does something similar to; (Zen Coding - fast way to write repetitive tasks)
http://code.google.com/p/zen-coding/
I DO NOT care for;
Debuggers.. why? Because I can write debugger stuff in my own code, and often.. even inside of dreamweaver I never use their test browser cause I always end up wanting to use a full-fledged browser with extensions like firebug/ySlow inside of IE9, Firefox 12, Chrome, etc.
** Updated with more specific requirements.
It sounds like you value stability and robustness. My long-time text editor on Windows was UltraEdit. It's not one of the "hip" new editors, but it's solid and has support for a lot of things, though it does take some configuration to get going. It isn't free, however. All the open source or free text editors I've found for Windows (esp. Notepad++, which is often recommended) are even more "broken" than Sublime Text 2 (which I find to be pretty good, actually).
On Mac, I use TextWrangler which is free, stable, and great. I have no idea how you intend to find a text editor that'll actually on Mac, Windows and Android (the first two I understand... the latter, however, will naturally be a completely different product).
Both UltraEdit and TextWrangler have been around for a long time and have had most of their kinks and quirks worked out. They're reliable products and can be trusted to simply handle whatever you throw at them, in my experience.
I'm developing PHP apps that leverage several frameworks (though not the Zend Framework yet...) and I make good use of Javascript (mostly jQuery). All mark-up is XHTML, of course, with CSS, etc. I'm looking to move beyond the beautiful simplicity of Notepad++. I'm using Windows Vista. I'm trying to decide between Zend Studio 7 or Dreamweaver CS4.
They seem pretty on par with each other, but the price points are different. I've seen a few lists of "Good things about Dreamweaver" or "Good things about Zend Studio" but I've yet to find a head-to-head comparison.
Any suggestions on the next IDE to move up to? In addition to the language support and basic error checking (syntax-related, like missing semi-colons or something), I'm looking for two things that are absolutely necessary:
"Projects" or something similar --
open a project and it gives a tree
listing of all related files
beneath. I'm pretty sure both
support this.
As lightweight as possible. Vista's a hog as it is,
and I'd like to have a lightweight
enough IDE that having 10 files open
and moving between them won't drain
my resources.
Other niceties:
Automatic documentation (not sure
what the phrase is, the stuff in
comments above functions with the
#parm stuff).
Templating.
SVN
support.
FTP/File upload
capabilities.
... And, if Zend or Dreamweaver isn't the thing -- any suggestions about what is?
i would suggest Netbease IDE PHP 6.7.
In is free , not so huge like Zend Studio or Dreamweaver.
It has support for
Syntax-highlighting
Templates
PHP Unit
JQuery
Dojo
Code completion for JS / PHP / HTML
Version Control (SVN)
and much more..
Download Netbeans
I suggest try few open source alternatives
Eclipse PDT - Is very good for php but currently don't good support jquery.
Aptana - I build on top of Eclipse and has good support for JQuery. It also has page preview feature.
You can configure different debuggers to work with them like PDT, Zend, Xdebug... all of them can be configured easily.
Zned Studio is also build on top of Eclipse, I have never used that so I can't say anything about it.
I had the same question about year ago. From then I tried many different IDE environments and a found that the most suited one was Netbeans.
The deal with Netbeans was that due to some performance issues it was the solidest IDE there.
As sad as it may be, from my perspective it is much better product than the Zend Studio For Eclipse 6 or 7 witch costs about 400$, (trust me I tried it since I unfortunately wasted the money on licence before I actually tested all available options).
It has the best code completion inspection and assistance, witch you can check yourself by downloading these two IDE-s and trying to code complete chaining method calls.
Support for unit testing is also something worth mentioning since it works. ZDE also has that feature but it is not that stable since sometimes it wont run.
JavaScript support is also solid, actually I think that is better than one in the Aptana, but the only downside of it is that is pretty slow when working with huge libraries such as Dojo. Now some may argue about that but the fact is that (at least with Dojo&dijit) library it has the best code inspection, and fine code completion support.
My opinion is that the only downside is the lack of support for Zend Debugger, and not so intuitive debugging variable, callstack and breakpoint windows.
For now my felling is that this is the best PHP IDE available, something like the Zend Studio 5.5 when it came out.
Netbeans is the clear choice here as long as you aren't limited on memory. It's got a good-sized footprint, but there's no product that can compare...not even Zend.
That being said, the new Aptana 3 was supposed to bring back full-fledged PHP support that was removed from Aptana 2+ (PDT just isn't a good plugin folks), but now that Appcelerator has taken over Aptana I'm a bit skeptical that the focus toward PHP will continue.
Yes Aptana Studio is good for PHP and also Netbeans. I like Netbeans more because it feels more solid. But Aptana has propably the best auto-complete support for javascript of all editors, but I don't really like the appearance of the editor - looks too 'macish'.
I would recommend both actually, side by side as each has its strengths and weaknesses
Zend Studio is excellent for:
PHP class coding enables you to view and browse class hierarchies, provides autocomplete, one click access to PHP Manual
unit testing
debugging
profiling
version control integration
Dreamweaver CS4 for
HTML coding
CSS editing
Other visual design
To me, I still have that impression of Dreamweaver being drag and drop for web "designers" and creating horrible html output that does that validate sometimes. If this still happens with DW CS4, then I would definitely go with Zend Studio.
Zend Studio actually supports with all the Eclipse Plugins that I would like to add for unit testing and continuous integration.
But Aptana and NetBeans are free!!! Which I think Zend editor is not, haven't tried that. I like Netbeans!!! I like Dreamweaver CS4 and use it on daily basis at my job(but not coding php). It's quite nice but I feel it's strength is the help you get with css properties. Besides that it's not better than Netbeans. if you like a shiny cool look like DW so go for Aptana, it has the best javascript autocompletion - really cool!! Saves a ton of time!! Even auto-completion for your JQuery code and other JS frameworks I think.
Actually Dreamweaver has become more of a dev tool (but I'm not entirely convinced of that). It has integration with Subversion which is kind of cool.
I like NetBeans because I've done some Java coding in it before and now it has support for PHP which is real nice, and it feels like a real dev. IDE.
But DW has this cool gray colors..
I always strive to increase my productivity when developing applications and in the span of the last few years, I can say that I have made good steps towards increasing that productivity, but I still find I need more tools or methods. I need to edit faster and learn touch typing (currently in the process) and therefore I find a need to move to Vim. It has been now over one year I have trashed Windows and moved to Linux (Ubuntu to be more precise) and I am using the IDE Zend Studio combined with Aptana Studio for developing OO PHP5.3 websites. Although the IDE does everything I would need from an IDE (which I will enumerate shortly), it lacks the editing mode Vim would give.
So my question is: how would I have all the same following 'killer features' I already have within this IDE in Vim?
Here is the extensive list of features I need to keep the productivity at an high level for me:
Code completion for PHP5.3, not just PHP5 and not just the PHP functions, but any libraries that are added to the buildpath, such as Zend Framework and my own library.
Code formatting, I don't use it much, except for XML files, but that is something I would need soon as I will start to lead more people within my company and formatters will help to keep the code coherence.
I use Oxygen XML editor within Zend Studio (eclipse) for editing Docbook XML technical documentation. It has already proven of great quality to me and I would like to keep it.
Syntax validation for any file extensions that can be used on the Web, mostly for me would be PHP5.3 syntax, html syntax (not that important), CSS, Javascript (that's why I have Aptana Studio integrated with Zend Studio, their javascript editor is great with JQuery support)
Maybe a git integration just like EGit (eclipse plugin)? Not required but a nice addon.
Debugging features (already using it through the ZendDebugger)
Powerful searching within files
I know that is a lot, but I am already having all this within my IDE and as I said, I feel the need to move to mode based editors like Vim to be more productive when typing and I feel the learning curve and time invested in setting up all of this will be well worth the effort.
I know that there is Eclim, which integrates eclipse to its daemon and I am thinking of using just that, if anyone has feedback on Eclim used with Zend Studio that would be appreciated.
Along with Eclim, if I need more vim plugins to achieve my needs, I would gladly appreciate it if someone could direct me to them.
Aright, after playing around much with the tools that would increase productivity using vim I have made my choice.
I first installed GVim with the MiniBuffer, NERDTree, Bufkill, Matchit, PDV (phpDocumentator), taglist plugins and others to make sure I would be as much comfortable as I would need for replacing the functionnalities I already had within Eclipse. I also installed Eclim, which is a pretty good plugin to integrate with eclipse and it works great with completion assist when installed on Zend Studio 7.1 (although there is a minor bug within Zend Studio's completion assist that restricts its use on Eclim). I also followed those three blogs (O'Phinney's, Thomas Koch's and Schlitt's to make sure I was at the top of productivity). After trying my hands on all of that I still felt I was far from comfortable for some GVim editing.
Since I am already sold on the powers behind touch typing and Vim, there was absolutely no way I would return on bare editors such as the one Eclipse provide. Therefore I tried, viPlugin, Vrapper and vimPlugin, which were not what I expected from them. The viPlugin and Vrapper, which emulates vi into Eclipse, as opposed to vimPlugin who just integrates Vim as an external editor (rendering code completion, refactoring and such unusable), are not enough mature yet. Visual block is not working and some nifty bug gets on your way when you start to really use them. I am not bashing those plugins since they are still pretty good, but it was just not what I expected.
Then I just stumbled on Netbeans and their new version 6.8 released on December 2009, which now have fully support on PHP5.3, PHPUnit, Code coverage reports, refactoring, XDebug integration, Code completion. What made the grand finale is when I saw the jvi plugin which emulates vi into netbeans (and yes, visual block works!!). That plugin is just absolutely amazing and works very very well.
The only thing that was left out, as asked in my question, was the Oxygen XML Editor which is not integrated in a netbeans plugin, but I can still use their native editor so it was not even an issue for me. For Git integration, there is a plugin out there for netbeans, but I sticked with git gui.
If you guys out there want the best of both worlds just like I wanted, you should definitely checkout the new release for netbeans for PHP5.3 development, while keeping Vim as your main editor.
I'm interested in using Eclim with Zend Studio as well. However, I already have a Zend Studio Project and installing Eclim requires the creation of an "eclim project". That process, according to the eclim installation notes, will create a .project file in the root directory of the project. And that means it will likely overwrite the ZendStudio .project file...which will corrupt my project files... something I don't want to do in case I decide that eclim is not for me.
Let me know how it works out for you.
Closed. This question does not meet Stack Overflow guidelines. It is not currently accepting answers.
Questions asking us to recommend or find a tool, library or favorite off-site resource are off-topic for Stack Overflow as they tend to attract opinionated answers and spam. Instead, describe the problem and what has been done so far to solve it.
Closed 8 years ago.
Improve this question
How does Eclipse PDT compare to NetBeans for PHP development?
I just bought a new computer with Windows 7 and I'm starting to set up a development environment for PHP. Has anyone used both IDEs lately and could make a quick comparison? If you know what major frameworks are supported, that would be great too.
Yes, I switched from Eclipse to Netbeans for PHP development quite recently. And I have to admit - I like NetBeans better. It seems to me more lightweight and stable. It certainly loads faster. And code completion seems to be much better than in Eclipse - it doesn't fail so often, and you can insert hint-comments wherever you wish to specify the types of your variables. Also NetBeans IDE is much simpler than Eclipse. It's probably not as powerful (and it could definately use a few more configuration options), but on the other hand, Eclipse was downright intimidating with its complex system.
Put it this way - if you come from a Windows background (like me), go for NetBeans. If you're a Linux/Unix fan, you'll feel right at home with Eclipse.
I switched to NetBeans after version 7.0 has been released. It's faster, more lightweight and code completion is better. Its easier to configure and looks like everithing just works, in Eclipse you need to deal with complex configuration, and I wanted to focus on coding. But they are both good.
I compared them, you can read more on http://dev.umpirsky.com/eclipse-vs-netbeans-for-php-development/
Eclipse PHP (PDT) does not come with a working debugger out-of-the-box. You have to download and install at least 2 or 3 other fussy open-source components to make that work. I've never tried NetBeans, but, if you need debugging (stepping through code) and you don't have several days to work through the environment setup hell of Eclipse, that might be the way to go.
I use Eclipse first and work friendly with this .Next I use Netbeans for Java and I use it completely in java and uninstall Eclipse . Next time that I need work with PHP I use Netbeans for this goal and I understood Netbeans code completion better than Eclipse also code highlighting but build , compile,debug and run are better in Eclipse and I think Netbeans increase feature and functionality in future .
Advantage of eclipse is that I can code in PHP and perl in the same project.
I downloaded NetBeans IDE 6.9.1, just to compare against eclipse PDT 2.2.0 to edit PHP projects on CVS.
Eclipse can appear complex and difficult to setup, however, by downloading eclipse PDT all-in-one it is easiest to unzip it and start using it.
I'm surprised about how fast and light weighted NetBeans is, you can realize how fast it is immediately.
I still like eclipse on the way how it does and shows stuff, but NetBeans has a crispy design.
They both are really good options regardless of Linux or Windows OS.
Frankly - I don't know which is better or worse; I've worked with Eclipse ... it was required by the College I attend for the JAVA course -it worked great for that and I quickly understood how to manipulate the project to store "everything" related to the class, including PDF files and Word Documents.
When it comes to PHP -well, I can't seem to get XDebug to function with Eclipse. Not even sure I know why at this point. I installed NetBeans and had no problems interfacing with XDebug for PHP ... so I'm torn. There are aspects that I like about both of these applications -and things I don't like, mostly cosmetic things. Like where they write their project data -and about renaming or moving project data ... I've had a bugger of a time with Eclipse -and not as much trouble with 'Beans.
As it currently stands, this question is not a good fit for our Q&A format. We expect answers to be supported by facts, references, or expertise, but this question will likely solicit debate, arguments, polling, or extended discussion. If you feel that this question can be improved and possibly reopened, visit the help center for guidance.
Closed 11 years ago.
Locked. This question and its answers are locked because the question is off-topic but has historical significance. It is not currently accepting new answers or interactions.
I'm a PHP developer and now I use Notepad++ for code editing, but lately I've been searching for an IDE to ease my work.
I've looked into Eclipse, Aptana Studio and several others, but I'm not really decided, they all look nice enough but a bit complicated. I'm sure it'll all get easy once I get used to it, but I don't want to waste my time.
This is what I'm looking for:
FTP support
Code highlight
SVN support would be great
Ruby and JavaScript would be great
For PHP I would recommend PhpStorm.
It supports FTP/SFTP synchronization, integrates well with Subversion, CVS, Mercurial and even with Git. Also, it supports HTML, CSS, JavaScript and handles language-mixing well like SQL or HTML blocks inside PHP code, JSON, etc.
But if you need Ruby you can try another IDE - RubyMine with same capabilities but for Ruby.
NetBeans. Check out 7.0.1.
It supports FTP/SFTP synchronization, integrates well with Subversion, CVS, Mercurial and even with Git (with plugin). Also, it supports HTML, CSS, JavaScript, popular frameworks and more.
And its free.
Too bad no one mentioned phpDesigner. It's really the best IDE I've came across (and I believe I've tried them all).
The main pro of this one is that it's NOT Java based. This keeps the whole thing quick.
Features:
Intelligent Syntax Highlighter - automatic switch between PHP, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript depending on your position!
PHP (both version 4 and 5 are supported)
SQL (MySQL, MSSQL 2000, MSSQL 7, Ingres, Interbase 6, Oracle, Sybase)
HTML/XHTML
CSS (both version 1 and 2.1 are supported)
JavaScript
VBScript
Java
C#
Perl
Python
Ruby
Smarty
PHP:
Support for both PHP 4 and PHP 5
Code Explorer for PHP (includes, classes, extended classes, interfaces, properties, functions, constants and variables)
Code Completion (IntelliSense) for PHP - code assist as you type
Code Tip (code hint) for PHP - code assist as you type
Work with any PHP frameworks (access classes, functions, variables, etc. on the fly)
PHP object oriented programming (OOP) including nested objects
Support for PHP heredoc
Enclose strings with single- or double quotes, linefeed, carriage return or tabs
PHP server variables
PHP statement templates (if, else, then, while…)
Powerful PHP Code Beautifier with many configurations and profile support
phpDocumentor wizard
Add phpDocumentor documentation to functions and classes with one click!
phpDocumentor tags
Comment or uncomment with one click!
Jump to any declaration with filtering by classes, interfaces, functions, variables or constants
Debug (PHP):
Debug with Xdebug
Breakpoints
Step by step debugging
Step into
Step over
Run to cursor
Run until return
Call stack
Watches
Context variables
Evaluate
Profiling
Multiple sessions
Evaluation tip
Catch errors
Are you sure you're looking for an IDE? The features you're describing, along with the impression of being too complicated that you got from e.g. Aptana, suggest that perhaps all you really want is a good editor with syntax highlighting and integration with some common workflow tools. For this, there are tons of options.
I've used jEdit on several platforms successfully, and that alone puts it above most of the rest (many of the IDEs are cross-platform too, but Aptana and anything Eclipse-based is going to be pretty heavy-weight, if full-featured). jEdit has ready-made plugins for everything on your list, and syntax highlighting for a wide range of languages. You can also bring up a shell in the bottom of your window, invoke scripts from within the editor, and so forth. It's not perfect (the UI is better than most Java UIs, but not perfect yet I don't think), but I've had good luck with it, and it'll be a hell of a lot simpler than Aptana/Eclipse.
That said, I do like Aptana quite a bit for web development, it does a lot of the grunt work for you once you're over the learning curve.
Eclipse PDT is very nice.
I'm always amazed that more people don't use ActiveState Komodo.
It has the best debugging facilities of any PHP IDE I have tried, is a very mature product and has more useful features than you can shake a stick at. Of note, it has a fantastic HTTP inspector, Javascript debugger and Regular Expression Toolkit. You can get it so that it steps through your PHP, then you see your Javascript running, and then see your HTTP traffic going out over the wire!
It also comes in free (Komodo Edit) and open (OpenKomodo versions).
Oh, and if you don't always hack just on PHP, it's designed as a multi-language editor and rocks for Ruby and Python too.
I've been a happy customer for around 5 years.
There's no "best" IDE, only better and worse ones.
Right now I'm trying to settle in with Aptana. It has a lot of cruft that I don't want, like "Jaxer" doodads all over the place. It's reasonably fast, but chokes on large files when syntax highliting is on. I have not been able to figure out how to set up PHP debugging. Three good things about Aptana: easy plugin installations, very fast and intuitive Subversion plugins, ligning fast file search.
I tried Eclipse PDT and Zend for Eclipse, but they have nightmare levels of interface cruft. Installing plugins is a living horror of version mismatches and cryptic error messages.
I also use Komodo (they bought us licenses at work). Komodo has a very intuitive interface, but is ridiculously slow, chokes on medium sized files with syntax highlighting. File search is intuitive, but rather slow. Subversion integration is not that great - slow and buggy. If not for slowness, I would have probably stuck with Komodo, especially for the debugger.
To get you started, here is a list of PHP Editors (Wikipedia).
For PHP in particular, PHPEdit is the best, and I tried and worked in some of them including, Dreamweaver, Elipse, Emacs, Notepad++, NetBeans, UltraEdit ...
Geany is a great lightweight editor -- like Notepad++ for Linux, only better. I find this, combined with a few shell scripts and symlinks for linking modules into a web source tree, make developing on Linux easy and fun.
I love JetBrains IDEs. For PHP it is JetBrains PHPStorm.
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/opensource/library/os-php-ide/index.html
Personally, I love Notepad++... :D . The above link compares some of the better IDEs and the best ones aren't free.
I'd recommend Komodo 4.4 though (I used the trial version) since it was awesome. Better than Notepad++, but not free... :(
I would recommend Zend IDE for the integrated debugger.
I'm using Zend Studio. It has decent syntax highlighting, code completion and such. But the best part is that you can debug PHP code, either with a standalone PHP interpreter, or even on a live web server as you "browse" along your pages. You get the usual Visual Studio keys, breakpoints, watches and call stack, which is almost indispensable for bug hunting. No more "alert()"-cluttered debugged source code :)
Have you looked at Delphi for PHP (<http://www.codegear.com/products/delphi/php>) ?
Joe Stagner of Microsoft really likes Delphi for PHP.
He says it here: "[Delphi for PHP] 2.0 is the REAL DEAL and I LOVE IT !"
Eclipse with PDT.
I use and like Rapid PHP.
What features of an IDE do you want? Integrated build engine? Debugger? Code highlighting? IntelliSense? Project management? Configuration management? Testing tools? Except for code highlighting, none of these are in your requirements.
So my suggestion is to use an editor that supports plugins, like Notepad++ (which you are already used to). If there's not already a plugin that does what you want, then write one.
I use Coda on Mac OS X.
There is a new guy in town, PhpStorm from JetBrains. You use it and I bet you will forget all the other editors. It's bit pricey though, unfortunately.
RadPHP (previously known as Delphi for PHP) is the best.
All are good, but only Delphi for PHP (RadPHP 3.0) has a designer, drag and drop controls, GUI editeor, huge set of components including Zend Framework, Facebook, database, etc. components. It is the best in town.
RadPHP is the best of all; It has all the features the others have. Its designer is the best of all. You can design your page just like Dreamweaver (more than Dreamweaver).
If you use RadPHP you will feel like using ASP.NET with Visual Studio (but the language is PHP).
It's too bad only a few know about this.
Aptana supports this and I use it for all of my web development now.
Hands down the best IDE for PHP is NuSphere PHPEd. It's a no contest. It is so good that I use WINE to run it on my Mac. PHPEd has an awesome debugger built into it that can be used with their local webserver (totally automatic) or you can just install the dbg module for XAMPP or any other Apache you want to run.
The best IDE for PHP in my opinion is Zend Studio (which itself is based on Eclipse PDT). Note that in this case "best" does not necessarily mean "good." It is slow and a bit buggy, but even so, it's still the best option for PHP programmers. I've tried a ton of PHP editors over the years and I haven't yet found one that works great.
Komodo IDE would be my second choice. My only problem with Komodo is that the autocomplete is not as good. With properly structured apps where you use phpDoc to document return types etc., it should be alright. But I work on a project that doesn't really do that and Komodo can't read across files to know that $user is a User object for example.
Personally everything that is based uppon Eclipse or NetBeans is an overkill, the GUI is crap and the performance is soooo slow compared to other alternatives.
If you're willing to pay I would suggest Zend IDE (version 5.5, not 6 because it's based on Eclipse) and EditPlus for a more lightweight yet powerfull code editor.
If you're looking for free alternatives, or if you code in other languages other than PHP, OpenKomodo is a really nice IDE with almost all the features (no SVN neither CVS) that you require, the only con I see about OpenKomodo is that sometimes it messes my code indentation, but then again I don't use it on a very regular basis.
As for a free lightweight alternative: Notepad++. =)
My personal preference is Eclipse (with various plug-ins) as I am developing in several languages (PHP, Java, and Ruby) and this way I am always used to interface and keyboard shortcuts. This is not a minor thing as you become very productive this way.
I haven't used Aptana, but will (hopefully) soon - it does look interesting, though.
For others IDEs I have used: jEdit (for little Java), Notepad++ (still for some scripting and short test code runs).
And for the features You asked: Eclipse support many source code version servers (Subclipse); your project can be on a Samba share; ZendDebugger/xdebug for debugging.
I've tried Eclipse PDT, with some success. Aptana is also pretty good, or if you are doing a lot of AJAX stuff, it's great. Your mileage may vary, however, depending on what additional plugins you want to use with them.
PHPEclipse is as close to Eclipse java power as it could get. Eclipse PDT is much weaker (last time I checked).
I'm using PHPDesigner but I will go for Eclipse PDT. I was always against Eclipse until few months ago when I have one Java project to finish... Great IDE
Now I can't imagine one day without Eclipse. :)
Have you tried NetBeans 6? Zend Studio and NetBeans 6 are the best IDEs with PHP support you'll come across and NetBeans is free.