Zend Studio Alternative
Today my Zend Studio trial expired, even though it said it was valid until December 2005. Since I don’t want to pay the $300 price tag just yet (as Matt has done), I decided to try an alternative IDE that was mentioned by one of my LiveJournal friends called PHP Designer 2005. So far it’s got most of what I need, and a lot of stuff I’ll never use.
It’s freeware, but it’s pretty solid freeware. The screenshots were impressive, and I like the ToDo list, but it’s really bad with certain things. Its class view functionality is iffy (which is big for me) and its file browser annoyingly separates folders and files into different lists. I thought its project functionality would help, but it doesn’t let you add directory structures to a project, only files.
After getting rid of its excessive interface elements (including all those toolbars!), I mimicked my Zend Studio setup as well as I could. It’s not the best, and I’ll miss auto-completion, but it’s free and should last me until I feel like paying for Zend Studio, which I’m not even sure I want to do. Java applications in Windows are lame!
I might try ActiveState Komodo again. I like the idea of an IDE that I can use for many languages, so long as I get all the features I need in a well designed manner. The idea of using gVim again came to mind. Or I could be like Andy and use straight up Vim in a console window.
Actually, what I would really enjoy is the PHP equivalent of ActiveState’s Visual Python plugin for Microsoft Visual Studio. I remember really enjoying using it, and I like the Visual Studio IDE. Anybody know of a PHP plugin for Visual Studio?
Update: For all you weirdos finding this page on Google looking for Zend alternatives, I’ve moved on to the world of Apple and have fallen in love with TextMate. I highly suggest you do both. Oh, and ditch PHP while you’re at it. 
June 13th, 2006 at 8:08 pm
Is there also WeBuilder (it costs just 49$ for professional purposes).
It’s very light, useful, beauty