Anyone got reccomendations for the best IDE software for a windows powered computer?
I want text editor, css editor, ftp, live preview if poss, and it should also be able to handle php and javascript.
Any suggestions?
What do you use and what is awesome!
You mean Visual Studio 2008? Has great HTML and CSS editor, WYSIWYG for HTML and supports PHP via VS.PHP. And jQuery Intellisense. I don't know whether it supports FTP as you'd like, but there is some publishing system integrated. You won't typically need it though, since you can debug on your local system fine.
There are also the free Express editions offering most of what you need, but they do not support PHP. You can buy VS.PHP only though, it's available as both an add-in and a standalone version of Visual Studio (including the HTML, XML and CSS tools, as far as I remember) and is much cheaper than the larger editions of Visual Studio. Anyway, if you're doing professional development, the price tag should not matter.
I've used both Eclipse and Komodo on Windows machines, which both can handle PHP and javascript (Eclipse requires plugins, but you can get a package with the plugins all together), and the nice thing is you can use the same tools on other platforms.
These days I tend to use Komodo because it's a little simpler to install and maintain, and doesn't have java-programming cruft getting in the way. It comes in both free and for-pay versions.
I'm currently using Netbeans 6.5.1 in both Windows and Linux (Ubuntu): except for a WYSIWYG editor it has everything you asked and it's free.
Personally, I love Aptana Studio because it's very easy to use and very extensible with many plugins. It has support for tons of JavaScript libraries (like jQuery, Prototype, MooTools, etc.) and the content assist is fairly nice.
Also, they are almost ready to release a new version: Aptana Studio Andretti :-)
emacs. No, really. With Yegge's js2-mode and a js interpreter a pretty good js environment, and pretty much ditto for everything else. Not to mention being an irc client, psychiatrist and a gateway drug to Lisp!
Another one for eclipse.
Eclipse is like a Honda Civic, or whatever car kids "soup up" these days. You can find a plug-in that supports almost any language you'd like.
Its not the best IDE, but its not a bad ide either.
If you're looking to do work with PHP, Microsoft Expression Web 2 is probably a good choice also. Built in webserver, 'intellisense' for PHP, Javascript, HTML, two different ways to manage stylesheets and styles in general. Expression Web also integates easily into the entire suite of Expression tools.
Haven't used it myself so I can't vouch for it from personal experience but Visual Expression Web 2 supports php & asp.net.
[edit]Once again I have been beaten to it :)[/edit]
i'm using notepad++ cuz it's fast & simple. On the other hand netbeans is more suitable for project development - not for editing.
For PHP, you can use Eclipse with a bunch of plugins for FTP and SVN (It's what I'm using right now). It's also an Ok editor for XML, HTML and CSS.
But personally, I really like SciTE. It's a very basic text editor, no fancy UI like Visual Studio, no FTP plugin(at least none I heard of), but it comes with amazing syntax highliting for just about any language I've had to use. Bonus stuff for me include the ability to search and replace using regex.
I also vote for NotePad++. It's free and provides various plug-ins and features.
Eclipse is an amazing IDE. Look at the list of available plugins for this IDE. http://www.eclipseplugincentral.com/
You can add each of them into your IDE, and save lots of time by using them. Though it's not a good one for .net languages. I prefer Visual studio as it has a great Immediate Window that you can change your code, extend your code while compiling. This saves lots of time.