I have done web development for a long time. My goto tools up to now have been just Notepad++ for the editing, plain HTML and php + sqlite3 on the backend.
Of course, I could stay with this forever. But, I know I am reinventing so many times, that I am finally deciding to make the turn. While this is not a comprehensive list, it is a list that I am starting (similar to my “Freeware apps that I love and use“, also on this blog).
Editors
- Notepad++: This is still my goto tool for editing. Although I am starting to use some others
- Sublime: This is another simple text editor. How much better is it that Notepad++? Well, for starters, it is also available for MacOS. And, its syntax highlighting abilities are somewhat (marginally though) better.
- Brackets: Now, this is “the” HTML editing tool I have been looking for. It is a bit heavier than I would have liked, but it is cross platform AND it has a nice integration with the browser for a WYSIWYG editing.
Frameworks
As I mentioned above, my backend choice language is php. So, that’s all I have below.
- Laravel: Recently discovered this “Ruby-on-rails for php” web development framework. It provides a decent ability to create web application frameworks with ability to enable authentication, of course database support and CRUD method creation.
I have not done enough with it as yet, but I already see many of my past webapps that I have created, which would just be so much more easier (and better) if I had used laravel.
Databases
- SQLite: I really (really) like this small file based database. It is easy to use and portable.
To create a new database, all you need is an empty file! How easy is that. Now, I know it may not have ALL the bells and whistles, but for most of my tasks, I find it more than suitable. In fact, sqlite3 makes it possible for me to create a “local web application” instead of a desktop VisualStudio application. - MySQL: This is my next database that I use. This is usually available in most places, and thus is almost (“almost”) as easy to use as sqlite3. You just cannot “take” it with you (like you can with sqlite3). But, it is the goto database used in teaching and has most of the Ansi-SQL features (like triggers, cascading etc.).
Front End CSS/Javascript frameworks
- Bootstrap: This CSS framework is just amazing. It single handedly could replace almost all the standard html tags. It does take a bit to learn the various “classes” provided within bootstrap to get its power, but it is worth it. I have started to gain a much deeper understanding of this framework recently – thanks in fact to the Dummies book on JQuery!Anyway, using bootstrap to create web pages makes them look so much more polished with not a whole lot of effort. Of course, if you know css, you can “tweek” the look even further, but even without it – just knowing the bootstrap classes can be more than sufficient.I looked up some videos to learn bootstrap, and came across this link (Top 10 video tutorials to learn Bootstrap) and the 2nd video in the list seems most promising (Not free. Udemy course: Bootstrap 4 from Scratch).The first free video on youtube from the list is bootstrap tutorial for beginners.
- JQuery: I knew JQuery. I have dabbled in JQuery in the past, but recently when reading jQuery for Dummies by Lynn Beighley, did I really appreciate its simplicity and power.Prior to this, I would look for web tools to do (what I know) are simple tasks (like making the animated slideshow). These tools were almost invariably based on jQuery (which javascript is not anymore!) and were just making some aspects easier, while using jQuery to do the heavy lifting. While this was all useful, it is great to know how to do this in jQuery itself. It lends itself so much more easier to understand what these tools are doing too.