Web development and website layout may seem either too easy for some or too difficult for others. But in reality, there are countless tools that both simplify coding and speed up the process. It's similar to web design, where there are standalone apps like Photoshop, font and icon services, image libraries, and color palette tools. And of course, code editors are among the most important tools for web developers.
For some beginners, even the name alone can cause quiet panic, making them afraid to dive deeper into web layout and coding. Yes, complex integrated development environments (IDEs) are indeed large and broad, whereas layout tasks are often more “minor” compared to something like writing code for a new graphic editor. On the other hand, some developers prefer good old Notepad on Windows, TextEdit on macOS, or Notepad++. But these tools usually lack many essential features, making them inconvenient for coding.
In this article, we’ll look at the features, pros, and cons of several well-known cross-platform code editors for web developers. They all work on the three major operating systems: Windows, Linux, and macOS. The features each one offers depend largely on the developer’s workflow, coding experience, and type of work.
The Purpose of Code Editors for Frontend Developers
The days when frontend developers only needed to know HTML, CSS, and basic DOM manipulation are gone. Nobody writes "vanilla" CSS anymore. ES6 brought the ease and intuitiveness of jQuery into standard JavaScript, which has now become one of the most popular programming languages in the world.
To be a modern web developer and layout designer, you must know JavaScript, jQuery, JSON, and AJAX—and knowledge of libraries and frameworks like Ionic, Ember, React, and TypeScript is often a must. Frontend developers also need to be familiar with version control systems like Git. That’s a lot, right? And new JS libraries are released very frequently, so the desire to keep learning is common. The frontend field evolves rapidly and often overlaps with mobile and backend development—keeping up is crucial.
That’s why we’ll review some applications used for working with code, layout design, and interface programming.
Angular
Angular is a platform that simplifies building applications. It allows developers to create apps that can live online in both desktop and mobile formats. Developed by Google, it's designed for creating single-page applications where one HTML file serves as the container for all dynamically loaded modules. Its capabilities include dependency injection, various tools, debugging methods, and multiple templates.
It can be used to create cross-platform hybrid mobile apps using Ionic or NativeScript, can build apps for macOS and Linux, supports TypeScript, and enables the development of advanced and progressive web applications.
Visual Studio Code
This is Microsoft's most feature-rich and well-built editor, based on Atom, and it's open source (free). It represents what an IDE environment should be. It’s reliable but slow to start. Once launched, though, it runs smoothly and handles multiple tasks simultaneously. It features built-in Git integration, folder-based data sorting, and more. Compared to Atom, it’s much faster in both launch and performance, and its functions differ significantly.
As an open-source app, it offers countless extensions and a growing user base. It includes IntelliSense for code autocomplete and variable info, a built-in debugger for Node.js, TypeScript, and JavaScript, and full TypeScript integration. It's fully customizable. And despite the name, it has nothing to do with the more complex Visual Studio IDE.
Its downside? It can be very slow when searching through large projects and has a relatively long startup time.
Brackets
Developed by Adobe specifically for web designers and frontend developers, Brackets is ideal if you mainly work with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Its standout feature is real-time integration with Google Chrome, allowing you to instantly see how changes appear in the browser.
Brackets also has a built-in inline editor: select a CSS parameter and press Ctrl + E (Windows) or Cmd + E (Mac) to open it. All selectors for that CSS ID will appear, making editing easier. It supports Sass and LESS and integrates with live preview tools.
It’s easy to configure via menus, unlike many editors that require manual config file editing. It also has a unique UI: no tabs for open files, just a file menu in the top-left above the directory tree.
VS Code uses a similar file menu, but it also has tabs.
Downsides? Brackets can be confusing, has fewer extensions than other editors, and isn't suitable for server-side languages (PHP, Python, Ruby, or WordPress development).
Atom
Now to Atom. This open-source platform was built by GitHub. Initially, it was GitHub’s internal code editor, but in 2014 it was released publicly—and quickly became popular for its rich feature set.
You can split the interface into multiple panels to compare files. Features include a messenger package, code autocomplete, file system integration, search and replace, Git integration, and many custom settings.
As an open-source app, Atom has many extensions. Teletype allows multiple developers to collaborate on the same project in real time. Atom is also loved for being built with HTML, JavaScript, CSS, and Node.js.
Drawbacks? It loads slowly and can lag, with rare performance issues for some users. Still, it’s a convenient and powerful editor.
Sublime Text
Sublime Text 3 is a very popular editor for web development. Unlike others, it’s paid—with a free trial. You can still use it after the trial ends, but occasional reminders to purchase a license will pop up.
Its most attractive feature is Goto Anything—a command palette opened with Ctrl+P to quickly access files, words, lines, and symbols. It also has a command panel for functions like keybinding checks and theme selection.
Sublime allows code pane splitting, multi-selection (edit multiple items at once), and has a large extension package. It’s praised for very high performance—faster than any other editor. Overall, it’s a highly responsive tool.
Its only real downside is that Git integration can be tricky—though there are plenty of plugins available.
Light Table
Another editor worth mentioning is Light Table—a young, evolving editor first launched via Kickstarter in 2012. It runs on three platforms, but OS X may require extra steps. The interface is unique, with a search bar and menu command settings. It supports HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Python, Clojure, and ClojureScript.
A key feature is Watches, which lets you track specific values in real time. Place a watch on a code snippet, and changes are updated live in the editor. It’s open source with many extensions, and has a built-in plugin manager.
What else makes it appealing? It’s fast, customizable, and free. But downsides include the lack of PHP support, making it hard to use for WordPress development—though there's a plugin for that.
Summary
These are the most popular code editors for layout developers. Each has its own strengths, and saying “You should only write code in one of them” isn't quite right. Many web developers use multiple tools and even online resources for convenience.
Despite their similarities and differences, each editor can be described with a few words to help summarize what we've tried to convey in this material.
It's also worth noting other important tools like PhpStorm, WebStorm, the popular CodePen, the world-famous Notepad++, and others—which we’ll cover in future articles.
Final Thoughts
Choosing a code editor can be a tough task. The key is to know what you're familiar with and what you actually need. Think about the features, keyboard shortcuts, UI, speed, stability, and syntax highlighting options. For some developers, these things matter most.
Just like when we looked at why Photoshop is great for web design, you should decide what you, as a layout designer/developer, want from your editor. How you prefer to work with Git, whether you like autocomplete or auto-closing brackets and tags. Spend some time exploring each editor and its extension options. You’ll get a clearer picture of what suits your workflow best.
Looking ahead, programming languages, libraries, and scripts will continue to evolve—so will editors. They’ll always be in demand, continuously updated, and improved with new features.