With all the talk of Cloud computing at the moment and after reading a short article on Dzones blog a few months back that questioned whether or not It Was the Right Time for Web-Based IDEs? (it was a split poll), we were inspired enough to venture out and find out what web based IDEs (integrated development environment) are available and which actually are the best. The results were a little bit surprising. What we found was literally hundreds upon hundreds of different web based editors, tools and generators for every possible language you could think of. The problem was that very few met with the criteria of being the powerful and feature rich IDE we were looking for. A lot of these tools had either not been updated in years or did they pack enough features to be deemed useful or functional in the grander scale. Other tools, look like they may have potential, but development has disappointingly slowed down.
As you may have guessed there have been many attempts at browser based IDE’s over the past few years, so what we have compiled for this article is a selection of IDEs that are not only functional, polished and professional, but are also ready to take the next big step and be the best web based code editing solution. Here is our favorite selection of web-based IDEs: Reader Opinion: What do you think? Are you ready to take the step and use a web based IDE?CodeRun – A free, Cross-Platform Browser-Based IDE 
CodeRun – A free, Cross-Platform Browser-Based IDE is a free and open-source web based IDE, which features native support for C#/.NET (3.5), PHP (5.1), JavaScript, HTML and CSS. C# support includes ASP.NET, WCF, Silverlight and WPF browser application development and deployment. Database support includes SQL Server 2005 and Amazon SimpleDB.
Syntax coloring and code completion are featured to help you during development. It also features an online debugger that allows you to set breakpoints, step through your code, inspect call stack, and other debugging actions.
Bespin
From Mozilla Labs, Bespin aims to be a ‘top-of-the-line text editor that lives in your browser’. It is based on the latest web standards and does require a “modern browser” with support for HTML5 and specifically the Canvas element with the ability to draw text.
Depending on what you’re trying to accomplish and how much time you’re willing to invest, there are several ways in which you can use Bespin: You can try the IDE directly (Bespin demo), download Bespin Embedded for use in your own applications or you can setup your own Bespin server (not for the faint of heart!).
As you may have guessed there have been many attempts at browser based IDE’s over the past few years, so what we have compiled for this article is a selection of IDEs that are not only functional, polished and professional, but are also ready to take the next big step and be the best web based code editing solution. Here is our favorite selection of web-based IDEs: Reader Opinion: What do you think? Are you ready to take the step and use a web based IDE?CodeRun – A free, Cross-Platform Browser-Based IDE
CodeRun – A free, Cross-Platform Browser-Based IDE is a free and open-source web based IDE, which features native support for C#/.NET (3.5), PHP (5.1), JavaScript, HTML and CSS. C# support includes ASP.NET, WCF, Silverlight and WPF browser application development and deployment. Database support includes SQL Server 2005 and Amazon SimpleDB.
Syntax coloring and code completion are featured to help you during development. It also features an online debugger that allows you to set breakpoints, step through your code, inspect call stack, and other debugging actions.
Bespin
From Mozilla Labs, Bespin aims to be a ‘top-of-the-line text editor that lives in your browser’. It is based on the latest web standards and does require a “modern browser” with support for HTML5 and specifically the Canvas element with the ability to draw text.
Depending on what you’re trying to accomplish and how much time you’re willing to invest, there are several ways in which you can use Bespin: You can try the IDE directly (Bespin demo), download Bespin Embedded for use in your own applications or you can setup your own Bespin server (not for the faint of heart!).