Some points to consider when answering my question:
While I was working on Windows I always favored Notepad++. Its very lightweight, but also doesn't have a lot of the IDE level features you might be used to from .NET land.
Dreamweaver does everything you listed, but isn't very lightweight. I like it because of the ability to have it write a lot of the simple HTML and CSS for me. It also has built in docs on javascript, html, php, and much much more. I would definitely suggest checking it out.
I would highly suggest the Aptana Studio, for your enviroment. More info is here.
I swear by EditPad Pro. It is lightweight with syntax colouring and code formatting, but it does not include auto completion (which personally I don't use anyway). It does have an amazing search function too.
I like VS.PHP because I like to work inside of Visual Studio.
It costs $99, but seems to work fairly well for my purposes.
I second Notepad++, it's lightweight, fast and works very well. When you enable word completion in the options it's a great support while coding (there are function completion files for several languages available, too). Also take a look at plugins.
Alternatively, use a full-fledged IDE. These are worth a look:
Delphi for PHP is a good PHP editor. It isn't however in the lightweight free category. It has all your features plus a visual WYSIWYG page designer.
Check out the feature list, it is pretty impressive. A lot of screen shots. If you are coming from a rich .NET development background this will really be familiar to you.
PHP Designer is pretty solid. I found it to be lighter-weight than Eclipse, has built-in support for TortoiseSVN, PHPDocumenter and some other utilities. It's not free, but it's reasonably priced - $60, I think.
jEdit is a great editor, but you need to install some plugins before it's at its best.
I've recently started using Komodo Edit (The free version of Komodo IDE), and I'm really liking it.
A lot of people love Eclipse with PDT, but I've never really used it. May be worth checking out, but apparently it's relatively resource-hungry.
Before I moved to developing mainly in C# I did quite a bit of PHP development using Notepad++. It's advantages are:
I agree with Sam: Eclipse with PDT is the best for what you want:
Here's a step-by-step tutorial on how to install it and use those features. I've installed it on my Vista laptop and it worked fine:
UEStudio is indispensable for me - it's my main killer-app stopping me from switching to Ubuntu full time. Having used eclipse at my previous job, I found it a bit of a resource hog and the interface was awful (I'll often have 20-30+ files open at once and the tab interface didn't work that well, for me at least).
Strictly speaking UES isn't a PHP IDE (you won't get integrated debugging), but it ticks all your boxes.
The only downside is that it isn't free. Their website has a 45 day free trial (no signup or anything), which will be definitely long enough to let you know if it's for you.
I've enjoyed using PhpED, mostly because I just started learning PHP and having the debugger to step through my code and teach me what I'm doing wrong really helps. But it's not particularly lightweight, and I imagine that after getting my chops I'd move more to a text-editor solution.
I've always used Zend Studio and I couldn't live without it. Break points and tracing are magic. If you have complex code, just execute line by line, checking that values and logic are as expected. How do people develop large applications with edit only programs like Notepad?
Lightweight is not: Dreamweaver, Aptana, Netbeans, Eclipse
It really depends on what you are doing, if you arent using OOP then you dont need a full blown IDE.... same with debugging, etc..
Lightweight, debugging, syntax coloring, etc.... I would try PHP Editor 2008
I have used it before and loved it... but allways go back to Programmers Notepad or my new friend e-TextEditor which is a copy of Textmate from the mac.
Since you are new to PHP anyway you arent going to be able to tell the difference between half of these.... :/
I use UltraEdit, EditPlus, Notepad++, and Notepad2. All are light weight. UltraEdit does do code completion I think... I'm not really sure as I don't use it.
UltraEdit is my main editor.
EditPlus used to be my main editor (I keep it around for regex search/replace when UltraEdit's regex support doesn't work right).
Notepad2 I have associated with most code file types (php, js, css, etc) for quick editing while browsing files in Windows Explorer.
Notepad++ I use for quick editing, similar to the way I use Notepad2, but I switch to Notepad++ if I need to open up multiple files from the same project. Yeah, I should probably just open them in UltraEdit if I'm gonna do that, but for some reason I don't.
Just the way I work. I'm weird I guess?
PHP ED is the by far the best i find. i've tried pretty much everything out there. and this is the best php editor. i love linux...but i keep on windows because of PHP ED.
http://www.nusphere.com/products/phped.htm http://www.nusphere.com/products/tour.htm
its fast! and and it very full featured.
it has:
auto code completion, build in database client, built in ssh(command line prompt), sftp, ftp etc support. (mount drives), remote and local debugger, code explorer, framework recognition, extensive language color coding options for multiple languages, html form builders, code formatting. the list goes on.
hands down PHPED is the top php editor.
there is also great forum support for this editor as well.
I'm a big fan of Zend Studio... its designed for PHP and I just can't live without the IDE features. Alternatives are ActiveState's Komodo IDE
I currently work on a couple of PHP on windows projects and i mostly use Notepad++, while the editor arena for windows is chockfull of competition (many of them real good) i have found that notepad++ quick load times and lighting fast any-word auto completion to speed-up my development time notably. The only downside i'd mention is debugging effort, depending on how you plan on debugging you might want to look into setting up PDT, for file working however, it's hard to beat npp.
Feature rundown
(many of this functionalities come from plugins, baked in to the default install)
WeBuilder/Rapid PHP seem to cover your requirements nicely, and even support some rudimentary debugging.
I tried, but have not extensively used, phpCoder - it's very nice. The only reason I didn't purchase was because I already had WeBuilder.
Finally, I have used Komodo IDE, which is outstanding, but I'm not sure it can be called lightweight. They also offer a free, open source version - Komodo Edit - which does not include debugging, but I believe meets the requirements you list.
I've recently tried phpDesigner 2008, which seems to be a good IDE. However, I haven't used it long enough to give a fair verdict.
Edit: Strike that, I've given up on it. Search doesn't work, the auto-complete and error detection is obnoxious and it has some window focus bugs that drive me crazy. I'm switching to NuSphere PhpED.
Visual Studio in combination with VS.Php is the ultimate tool ;)
It even supports debugging with IIS and is MS Certified.
I use TextPad for editing everything. It's not specifically for PHP, but it can be customised for any language. Syntax templates are available for every language you've heard of and 200 you haven't on their website http://textpad.com
Considering you didn't say that the editor must be free, i'd recommend Komodo IDE. It's a paid product, but wow, it's amazing. Their debugging support is on-par with Visual Studio; it's dramatically faster than Zend Studio. The code completion engine is very strong.
I've also found their developers to be particularly responsive - i've submitted numerous little feature requests, and lo and behold, they showed up in vNext. They even let you see the status of your requests live on their site.
I use Geany. It loads very fast (instantly) and has good support for PHP, and for mixing PHP, HTML, JavaScript and CSS in the same file. If has autocompletion for all PHP functions, and also detects classes and functions for easy navigation. One thing important in PHP development, it can tell you where you first used a variable (if you have large files or large functions).
It also detects valid and invalid CSS and autocompletes HTML. For example if you type TABLE tag, it generates a template TR and TD stuff.
Vim Vim Vim Vim Vim VIM!
Although I've just started trying out Eclipse with PDT and it seems quite nice. Other than that I've never been able to find an editor that 100% meets my needs unfortunately :(
I must be far to picky.
I second Mike B's suggestions, mainly for TSW phpCoder from tsware.net. I purchased the application a couple of months ago, along with "TSW SiteSync" (website synchronization software, works great with phpCoder) and I have become addicted to this editor. I would buy it for the debugging and PHP Tidy features alone, but there's so much more. Give it a try, it's pretty fairly priced.
I use Intype, after searching for days, and trying dozens, i found it the simplest and by far my favorite, it's like Textmate, but for Windows and i use it on Vista http://intype.info/home/index.php
Hi.
I suggest new free PHP IDE - Codelobster PHP Edition
It has also Drupal, Joomla, WordPress and Smarty plug-ins.
Regards, Stas.
My recommendations:
WeBuilder, PHP Designer.
both supports UTF, which is important. Debugging is quite amateur, AFAIK they don't support remote debugging.
But if you need a real PRO IDE -- go for Komodo IDE. It also supports Perl, Python and RoR.
I'm a big fan of E-TextEditor. It doesn't have autocomplete, but the bundles, snippets, and multiple-selection ability are amazing for how simple and lightweight it is.
It works with any of the bundles from TextMate, and it's easy to write your own.
Check out the screencast on the homepage. It's much more impressive looking than I'm making it sound.
You should check Aptana Studio which eclipse based development enviroment.Also support javascript,ajax,ruby on rails,python development and it has smooth user interface if you compare other editors for php.I used most of them(komodo,eclipse pdt,php designer...) but aptana studio is the most suitable for me.You can look at here
gVim on windows!
But I haven't gone beyond basic edit/search use. Would like to dig more on Vim...
It has to be Netbeans for me. Its got all the IDE features you could need and it has the added benefit of running on Mac/PC and Linux so you can use it regardless of platform. Its great features include built in support for Unit testing, debugging and mysql (more info here)
I've been using Programmer's Notepad 2. I don't have much to say about it, I've never really tried anything else for web-based programming. It suits my simple needs, so I'm just adding it to the list.
IDE: NetBeans for PHP [PHP, HTML, CSS - Auto-completion, Insert Getters/Setters] u dont have that in Eclipse (I tried Eclipse, and Zend Studio - and NB is better by a mile)
EDITOR: Notepad++