MonoDevelop is a free & advanced IDE that is mainly built for C# & other .NET languages.

It works in Linux, Windows & Mac OSX which is great, specially for developers who use multiple platforms but still want to work from the same interface.

MonoDevelop comes with advanced text editing features like code completion support for C# 3, code templates & code folding.

It also has an integrated debugger, web server (for instantly testing ASP.NET applications) & a GTK# visual designer.

The software also offers much more features like source control, makefile integration, unit testing, packaging & deployment, localization & more.

Web applications are offering an almost desktop-like functionality parallel to the increase in the connectivity speeds, wider usage of the cloud (easier scalability) & improvements in JavaScript/RIA development.

Also, moving to the cloud is no more a fantasy, it is the "current & future trend" considering the popularity of applications like Google Docs, Adobe Acrobat Online or web-based OSs.

As a web designer/developer, it is possible not to use any desktop softwares & work 100% web-based.

There are several tools that we use daily & has vital importance:

• IDE (code editor)
• Image editor
• Database manager
• FTP application
• Storage

Although desktop environment, clearly, has many advantages over web, web has an important one like working from any computer (even it is a weak one) & staying synchronized.

Here are free web applications that you can use to create your own web-based design/development environment:

Code Editing

PHPanywhere

This web application offers a desktop-like coding environment with features like:

• multiple projects
• built-in FTP explorer
• syntax highlighting
• undo-redo support
• & more.

There are also features like tabs, find-replace or auto-completion that we could expect from a desktop IDE.

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UIzard is an open source development tool for creating web applications on the web.

It has built-in support for various project types like:

• standard web applications
• Google API-based widgets/gadgets
• mobile web applications

User interface elements can be controlled with drag’n drops just like a desktop IDE & UIzard’s built-in editor has support for code-highlighting.

With an instant preview feature, the outputs of the design & code can be seen easily.

P.S. The application is currently in beta status & can be a little unstable.