Now that I’m getting into Object Oriented PHP programming, and the Zend Framework, I need an editor that can keep up with the complexity of my projects. Integrated Development Environments can make developing websites go so much faster and more smoothly. I’ve been using Aptana for all of my PHP projects, but it just feels bloated at times. Sometimes I just want a simple text editor and some FTP software. I decided to try TextMate, the glorified Mac OS X text editor, and was relatively impressed but really wished there was some sort of integrated FTP functionality. At work, I’ve been using Subversion to keep files in sync with my co-workers. I really like the “synchronize” feature of using Subversion, and really wish I could have some feature like that with FTP.

Well I recently came across an application called Espresso. It’s in public beta right now, but so far, I am very impressed. The software is so simple and intuitive. I don’t know if you could technically call it an IDE, but it sure covers most of the features I use most of the time. It feels like TextMate, only simpler, with a bunch of integrated features like FTP, code completion, syntax highlighting, outline view, file search, live preview…the list goes on. My personal favorite is the “Publish” feature. This is like a mix of FTP and Subversion, making it possible to “synchronize” your local changes with the current state of your remote files. Again, this feature is so intuitive. It made it really easy to see which files I had changed, and allows me upload all my changes in a single click.

Another cool feature, is the ability to add extensions. These extensions are called Sugars (which you add to your Espresso. Clever, eh?). I can’t wait to see what sorts of Sugars are in the works!

I would definitely recommend checking out Espresso. Especially if you’re getting started with PHP programming, or want to get better at building websites. This may become a valuable tool that will help you learn faster and get things done easier.

Update: Espresso 1.0 has just been released!