Installing basic software
In this article, we show you what tools you need to do simple web development and how to install them properly. We'll set you up with the bare minimum of tools for now, including a code editor and some modern web browsers.
| Prerequisites: | Basic familiarity with your computer operating system. |
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| Learning outcomes: |
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Installing a code editor
You probably already have a basic text editor on your computer. By default Windows includes Notepad and macOS comes with TextEdit. Linux distros vary; the Ubuntu 22.04 LTS release comes with GNOME Text Editor by default.
For web development, you can probably do better than Notepad or TextEdit. We recommend starting with Visual Studio Code, which is a free editor that offers live previews, code hints, and many other features.
Installing modern web browsers
For now, we'll install a couple of desktop web browsers to test our code in. If possible, make sure you have one browser from each line installed and available to test on (so you don't just test in multiple browsers based on the same rendering engine):
Installing a local web server
Some examples will need to be run by a web server to work successfully. You can find out how to do this in How do you set up a local testing server?
What tools do the professionals use?
The following looks like a scary list, but fortunately, you can get started in web development without knowing anything about most of these.
- A computer. Maybe that sounds obvious to some people, but some of you are reading this article on your phone or a library computer. For serious web development, it's better to invest in a desktop or laptop computer running Windows, macOS or Linux.
- A text editor, to write code in. This could be a text editor (e.g. Visual Studio Code, Notepad++, Sublime Text, GNU Emacs, or VIM), or a hybrid editor (e.g. Dreamweaver or WebStorm). Office document editors are not suitable for this use, as they rely on hidden elements that interfere with the rendering engines used by web browsers.
- Web browsers, to test code in. Currently, the most-used browsers are Firefox, Chrome, Safari, and Microsoft Edge. You should also test how your site performs on mobile devices and on any other browsers your target audience may be using. Lynx, a text-based terminal web browser, is great for seeing how your site is experienced by visually-impaired users.
- A graphics editor, like GIMP, Figma, Paint.NET, Photoshop, Sketch or XD, to make images or graphics for your web pages.
- A version control system, to manage files on servers, collaborate on a project with a team, share code and assets and avoid editing conflicts. Right now, Git is the most popular version control system along with the GitHub or GitLab hosting service.
For more information about other project-specific tools, especially for client-side web development, see Understanding client-side web development tools.