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What are the best open source alternatives to Adobe Dreamweaver?

10

Options
Considered

123

User
Recs.

Aug 22, 2023

Last
Updated

Here’s the Deal

7 Options Considered

Best open source alternatives to Adobe Dreamweaver	Price	Platforms	License
87 Visual Studio Code	FREE	Windows, macOS, Linux	MIT, Proprietary (official builds)
-- Brackets	-	Windows; macOS; Linux	MIT
-- Vim	-	Linux, macOS, Windows, Cygwin	Vim License
-- Atom	-	Microsoft Windows®, macOS, Linux	MIT
-- BlueGriffon	Free / paid	Windows, Linux, Mac	-

Visual Studio Code

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Top Pro

Fast and powerful

VS-Code has the speed of Sublime and the power of WebStorm. Perhaps this is the best software that Microsoft has ever created. See More

Capuccino 's Experience

I know it's not a out-of-the-box Editor, but VS Code is probably something you need if you want a more personal take on editing. With a tonload of extensions, you can make this editor yours. See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows, macOS, Linux

License:MIT, Proprietary (official builds)

Extension language:JavaScript

Multi Language Support:Yes

Top Pro

High fidelity C# plugin

The Omnisharp plugin is very powerful providing full sln, csproj, and project.json support. See More

LikableBythos's Experience

I am using visual studio code from 2 years, and I found it the best IDE for programming in any language. I made so many projects by using visual studio code. It is user friendly. See More

Top Pro

It has gotten really good

All it takes is one stop for all the features many people need. See More

Top Pro

Python support

Excellent Python plugin, originally created by Don Jayamanne, now hired by Microsoft to extend and maintain the extension. See More

Top Pro

Support RTL languages

It supports pretty web rtl languages like arabic languages when most of other editors don't support it. See More

Top Pro

Integrated task runners

Task runners display lists of available tasks and performing these tasks is as simple as a click of the mouse. See More

Top Pro

JS typechecking

It leverages TypeScript compiler functionality to statically type check JS (type inference, JSDoc types) with "javascript.implicitProjectConfig.checkJs": true option. See More

Top Pro

Good support for new Emmet syntax

Top Pro

Integrated terminal

There's no need to press alt+tab to go to a terminal: it is directly integrated into the editor. Shift+~ is a handy hotkey to toggle the integrated terminal. See More

Top Pro

Embedded Git control

Visual Studio Code has integrated Git control, guaranteeing speed, data integrity, and support for distributed, non-linear workflows. See More

Top Pro

JavaScript IntelliSense support

JavaScript IntelliSense allows Visual Studio Code to provide you with useful hints and auto-completion features while you code. See More

Top Pro

Integrated debugging

VSC includes debugging tools for Node.js, TypeScript, and JavaScript. See More

Top Pro

Updated frequently

There's a new release of Visual Studio Code every month. If you are one of the insiders then releases are daily. See More

Top Pro

Great performance

For a 'wrapped' web-based application, Visual Studio Code performs very well. See More

Top Pro

Huge community behind it

The ease of getting assistance and finding tutorials is increasing as the community grows. See More

Top Pro

Extendable through plugins

Visual Studio Code comes fairly complete out of the box, but there are many plugins available to extend its functionality. See More

Top Pro

Extendable through plug-ins

Visual Studio Code comes fairly complete out of the box, but there are many plug-ins available to extend its functionality. See More

Top Pro

ESLint integration

ESLint integrates great. You can define your rules trough .eslintrc.* as usual and vs code will autofix your code on save. So your code is always in style. See More

Top Pro

Custom snippets support

Snippets are templates that will insert text for you and adapt it to their context, and in VSC they are highly customizable. See More

Top Pro

Inline definition picking and usages finding

These features allow you to have a glance at code without opening it as a whole in a separate tab. Moreover, editing is allowed. See More

Top Pro

Active development

It's really nice to see how the code editor evolves. Every month there is a new version with great communication of new features and changes. See More

Top Pro

Libre/open source

Released under the MIT License. See More

Top Pro

Extensions (aka plugins) are written in JavaScript

Extensions are written in either Typescript or JavaScript. See More

Top Pro

TypeScript integration

There is very solid TypeScript integration in Visual Studio Code. Both are developed by Microsoft and VSC itself is written in TypeScript. See More

Top Pro

Ready to use out of the box

You don't need to configure and add plugins before being productive. However, you can add plugins if needed but for the basics you're well covered. See More

Brackets

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Top Pro

Support for Adobe PSD content

A default extension allows for the extraction of PSD resources, such as images and styles. There's good integration for placing extracted resources into source. See More

Capuccino 's Experience

Made by the same folks who made Dreamweaver, Brackets is yet the most beautiful alternative you can find - It's free as well! See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows; macOS; Linux

Extension language:JavaScript

Collaborative editing:No

Top Pro

Popup previews

Hovering over colors hex codes or image paths will pop up previews of corresponding colors and images. See More

Top Pro

Drag and drop support

Brackets supports drag and drop of text, as well as multi / rectangular selection. See More

Top Pro

Lightweight

Brackets is easy on memory usage and it starts up quickly. See More

Top Pro

Can be hacked by any front-end developer

The editor is built using html, css, and javascript, making it extendable by any front-end developer. See More

Top Pro

Can style a tag without switching over to the stylesheet

A feature called "Quick Edit" allows the user to select a tag in (a html file, for example) and edit the associated style without switching over to the css document. It also supports SASS and LESS pre-processors. See More

Top Pro

Actively developed

Brackets is being actively maintained and developed. See More

Top Pro

Built-in extension manager

The functionality of Brackets can be extended via a simple-to-use extension manager. The extension manager also has a considerable number of extensions and themes. See More

Top Pro

Free, open source and cross-platform

Brackets is entirely free and open source. See More

Top Pro

Built-in browser live-updating

Brackets will automatically refresh the browser and load the latest saved version of a file open in the browser. This works with php as well. Editing a css will even highlight the tag that's currently being worked on. However, it only works with Chrome. See More

Vim

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Top Pro

Vim understands code, and has movements and text objects reflecting this

Working on markup? The t text object allows you to move around based on tags. Simple text more your thing? w is the word object. Writing C-style code, chances are vim will recognize it, and allows you to jump to the next function, for example, using ]]. See More

Elias Van Ootegem's Experience

As a person who spends most of his time editing code, I don't use designer-style packages like dreamweaver. I'd be happy to recommend you use a good code editor instead. Of all the editors I've tried in the past, I can only recommend the one that has never, ever let me down in terms of flexibility, portability, language support, features, etc... The one, the only, the daddy: VIM. It's a trivial matter to just preview the markup you've just written (:!firefox % ), so though not at real time, you do get a very tight feedback loop. There's probably a myriad of web design plugins readily available, that would make your life easier. The best thing about vim for this use case is how the editor automatically understands what you're writing. Vim knows what tags are, and offers custom movements that make it easy for you to select a tag, delete it, move it around etc... If you want to select a tag, contents and all, just hit vat. Select the contents of a tag: vit etc... v (for visual) a or i (for outer or inner) t for tag. That's it, plain and simple. See More

Specs

Platforms:Linux, macOS, Windows, Cygwin

License:Vim License

Extension language:Vim

Top Pro

Vim encourages discipline

If you use Vim long enough, it will rewire your brain to be more efficient. See More

Top Pro

Productivity enhancing modal paradigm

As with all vi-like editors, Vim provides a modal paradigm for text editing and processing that provides a rich syntax and semantic model for composing succinct, powerful commands. While this requires some initial investment in learning how it works in order to take full advantage of its capabilities, it rewards the user well in the long run. This modal interface paradigm also lends itself surprisingly well to many other types of applications that can be controlled by vi-like keybindings, such as browsers, image viewers, media players, network clients (for email and other communication media), and window managers. Even shells (including zsh, tcsh, mksh, and bash, among others) come with vi-like keybinding features that can greatly enhance user comfort and efficiency when the user is familiar with the vi modal editing paradigm. See More

Top Pro

Vimtutor

Vimtutor is an excellent interactive tutorial for people with no prior experience of Vim. It takes about 30 minutes to complete. See More

Top Pro

Has multiple distinct editing modes

Interaction with Vim is centered around several "modes", where purpose and keybindings differ in each. Insert mode is for entering text. This mode most resembles traditional text entry in most editors. Normal mode (the default) is entered by hitting ESC and converts all keybindings to center around movement within the file, search, pane selection, etc. Command mode is entered by hitting ":" in Normal mode and allows you to execute Vim commands and scripts similar in fashion to a shell. Visual mode is for selecting lines, blocks, and characters of code. Those are the major modes, and several more exist depending on what one defines as a "mode" in Vim. See More

Top Pro

Amazing extensibility

Vimscript provides a rich scripting functionality to build upon the core of Vim. When combined with things like Tim Pope's Pathogen plugin management system, it becomes easy to add support for syntax, debugging, build systems, git, and more. See More

Top Pro

Can never outgrow it

The fact that very few, if any, people claim to be a "Vim Master" is a testament to the breadth and depth of Vim. There is always something new to learn - a new, perhaps more efficient, way to use it. This prevents Vim from ever feeling stale. It's always fresh. See More

Top Pro

Tons of plugins/add-ons

This makes Vim the definitive resource for every environment (Ruby/Rails, Python, C, etc.), or simply just provides more information in your view. See More

Top Pro

Once learned, it's very hard to forget

Vim's somewhat steep learning curve is more than made up for once you've mastered a few basic concepts and learned the tricks that allow you to program faster with fewer cut/paste mistakes. See More

Top Pro

Great productivity

Vim's keyset is mainly restricted to the alphanumeric keys and the escape key. This is an enduring relic of its teletype heritage, but has the effect of making most of Vim's functionality accessible without frequent awkward finger reaches. See More

Top Pro

Macros increase productivity

Many text editors have programmable macros, but since Vim is keyboard-based, your programmed macros are usually far more predictable and easier to understand. See More

Top Pro

Extremely portable

Vi/vim exists on almost all Unix-like platforms. It's the de-facto Unix editor and is easily installed on Windows. All you need to make it work is a text-based connection, so it works well for remote machines with slow connections, or when you're too lazy to set up a VNC/Remote Desktop connection. See More

Top Pro

Keyboard-based, mouse-free interface, and trackpad support

There's no need to reach for the mouse or the Ctrl/Alt buttons again. Everything is a mere key press or two away with almost 200 functions specifically for text editing. Vim does support the mouse, but it's designed so you don't have to use it for greater efficiency. Versions of Vim, like gVim or MacVim, still allow you to use the mouse and familiar platform shortcuts. That can help ease the learning curve and you'll probably find you won't want to (or need to) use the mouse after a while. See More

Top Pro

Free and open-source software

Vim is open-source, GPL-compatible charityware. See More

Top Pro

Lightweight and fast

When compared to modern graphical editors like Atom and Brackets (which have underlying HTML5 engines, browsers, Node, etc.), Vim uses a sliver of the system's memory and it loads instantly, all the while delivering the same features. Vim is also faster than Emacs. See More

Atom

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Top Pro

Free and open source

Atom is free, open source, and written in C++, LESS, and CoffeeScript. See More

Top Con

Very slow startup time

Atom is very slow to startup, which is a big disadvantage if you are accustomed to using it to make quick changes on your files. See More

Capuccino 's Experience

It's almost the same as Visual Studio Code - only this is made by the folks who made GitHub. Unfortunately this is also as bare bones as Visual Studio Code so you need to find extensions for it as well. Beware though - it's notoriously known to have slower boot times than VS Code. See More

Specs

Platforms:Microsoft Windows®, macOS, Linux

Extension language:JavaScript

Multi Language Support:Yes

Top Pro

Built-in package management

Atom was built from the ground up with the community in mind. Package management is therefore a first class feature. See More

Top Con

High memory usage

Atom has a relatively high memory usage, especially when compared to some other text editors not based on Electron. For those who develop on the go, this also tends to mean shorter battery life. See More

Yeturu Chenchukumar's Experience

My favorite IDE . pros : 1.comfortable UI 2.Built-in plugins like : Emmet , File icons , Beautifier , Auto save , Live server ,Git control and more. 3.Easy project manager. cons : 1.You don't know when the window will open (start up ) 2.Consumes lots of memory 3.Some times not respond Conclusion : Every front end developer need to try once. See More

Top Pro

Multiplatform

Atom can run on Mac, Windows, and Linux. See More

Top Con

Not known when a new window will open

It's not really clear why and when a new window is opened when you open a file out of the tree view. See More

Top Pro

Modern feel and very customizable and extendable

Top Con

Slows down exponentially with plugins

Extending it needs sacrificing responsiveness. See More

Top Pro

Multi-line select and edit

Multiple cursors and column selection allow for versatile ways of editing. ctrl + d will select the current word and each time the command is repeated, it adds the next occurrence of the word to the selection. ctrl + click or middle-mouse click will place another cursor in the place that's clicked. Cursors can then be controlled together. This also allows for selecting vertically. See More

Top Con

Depends on old software

Depends on python 2, which dies out. See More

Top Pro

Embedded Git control

Atom will highlight folders, files, and lines that have any uncommitted edits made. It also integrates really well with GitHub. See More

Top Con

Doesn't handle RTL (right-to-left text) well

Text can't be highlighted and manipulated properly, cursor isn't displayed visually according to where it is logically (you have to type to find out), and similar issues. See More

Top Pro

Beginner friendly

One of the goals of Atom is to be a text editor for both experienced and beginner programmers. You can add keyboard shortcuts, change themes, install plugins, and change core settings by clicking through a GUI, or by manually editing config files the old-fashioned way. It has the added advantage of being built using the same engine that powers Google Chrome, so actions like opening and closing tabs feel familiar, even to new or non-programmers. See More

Top Con

Has difficulty with large text files

Tends to crash or hang with large >(10MB) text files, making it less useful as a general text editor. See More

Top Pro

Extendable

Due to its modular design, almost any aspect of the editor can be changed. Even seemingly core packages, like those taking care of search and replace functionality, can be forked on GitHub, and changed and replaced in the editor. The documentation for creating new plugins is also great, making it easier for developers to jump in and create plugins for Atom. See More

Top Pro

Extensive list of packages

Atom has a built-in package manager and an extensive list of packages. Packages are written in CoffeeScript. See More

openElement

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Top Con

Not open source

Apparently it is not open source, although the name starts with "open". The "elements" (expansions) however are open source. See More

Top Pro

Drag and Drop

Drag and Drop interface. See More

RickZeeland's Experience

A free visual tool supporting the latest technologies. See review https://www.techadvisor.co.uk/download/design-illustration/openelement-157-3329047/ See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows

Top Con

Windows

Mac and Linux versions are not yet available. See More

Top Pro

WysiWyg

And everything can be edited in code too. See More

SharpNingal's Experience

only can open her extension, also couldn't edit a simple HTML without creating the project. See More

grapesJS

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Top Pro

Code is visible

Generated code is visible and can be edited as a result. See More

Top Con

Not feature complete

As a replacement for a full builder/designer solution, some features are still missing. You will need to build out your own toolchain. See More

Elias Van Ootegem's Experience

If you're looking for an open-source replacement for the WYSIWYG element of Dreamweaver, I really can't think of an actual of anything that will provide you with the full-package. My advise to you would be to use grapesJS for the clicky-drag'n drop kind of stuff, and look around for a number of other tools that specialise in CSS, JS, and what have you. For the most part, though, this option looks like it can provide you with the foundations of a page that looks pretty solid. I haven't had any personal experience with this solution just yet, mainly because I tend to stay away from client-side work as much as possible, though. See More

Top Pro

Custom styling support

Looks like there's an elaborate UI to style elements. See More

Top Con

Marketed as a framework, mainly for templates

It's more geared towards templating and use in CMS solutions. See More

Top Pro

WYSIWYG

Top Pro

Drag 'n drop components

Common components are provided via drag 'n drop interface. See More

Google Web Designer

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WebStorm

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