So several months ago I switched from Adobe Dreamweaver to Sublime Text. I switch for a number of reasons, many of which I will talk about below. If you are thinking about switching here is some good information to have during the transition.
Reasons to switch to Sublime Text
1. It’s much faster.
In every sense, Sublime Text is faster than Dreamweaver. Load time takes mere seconds and switching between projects in an instant. Coding also becomes faster with the addition of packages such as Emmet you can write several lines of code in just a few keystrokes.
2. Custom Themes and Layouts
Changing Dreamweaver to a dark theme has long been a pain in my ass, very talented developers have created gorgeous themes for Sublime Text that are easy to install, making staring at code for hours on end an absolute pleasure. Sublime Text also has several different layout options to place separate files next to each other horizontally, vertically, in a grid fashion and more.
3. Cheaper and all the cool kids are using it
A license for Sublime Text is $70, compared to Dreamweaver CC which could cost you $19.99 a month for just Dreamweaver or $49.99 a month for the entire Creative Cloud Suite. Which is a kick ass deal if you are using a large amount of Adobe products, but ultimately more expensive if you only need a text editor. I’ve long said Dreamweaver focuses too much on the shitty live preview and WYSIWYG editor. The direction of Dreamweaver is not that of a programmer, but some hybrid designer/developer. So why not switch to a “real programmers” 🙄 text editor like Sublime Text, Atom, or Vim.
Recommended Packages for Web Development
Out of the gate, Sublime Text does not come with most of the features that Dreamweaver does. In my opinion, this is a good thing. I don’t need dozens of panels that I never use cluttering my window. None the less, some of those features are a must have for my workflow. Listed below are packages I use to regain some of those features and a few others that are just awesome.
To start you are going to need Package Control, a Sublime Text package manager that makes finding, installing and managing your packages easier.
AutoFileName
Do you ever find yourself sifting through folders in the sidebar trying to remember what you named that file? Can’t remember if it was a jpg or a png? Maybe you just wish you could type filenames faster. No more.
Whether your making a
imgtag in html, setting a background image in css, or linking a.jsfile to your html (or whatever else people use filename paths for these days…), you can now autocomplete the filename. Plus, it uses the built-in autocomplete, so no need to learn another pesky shortcut.
BracketHighlighter
Bracket Highlighter matches a variety of brackets such as:
[],(),{},"",'',<tag></tag>, and even custom brackets.
CSSFont Family
CSSFontFamily is a Sublime Text 2/3 plugin with a collection of font stacks autocomplete.
Emmet
It is hard to explain Emmet, But you must get it. Trust me.
SFTP
Commercial SFTP/FTP plugin – upload, sync, browse, remote edit, diff and vcs integration
Sidebar Enhancements
Provides enhancements to the operations on Sidebar of Files and Folders for Sublime Text.
Theme – Spacegray
I love this theme so much. I honestly forget what Sublime Text looks without it.