Code Wherever You Are with PHPanywhere

It seems like you can do just about anything right inside your web browser these days. From image editing to 1st-person shooters, it seems like we’ve got everything covered. PHPanywhere is a service that straddles the space between working in the cloud and directly on your computer. It allows developers to access and edit their code from just about any browser.

You provide your FTP server information to PHPanywhere and it provides you with:

• Color syntax-highlighting
• Smart indentation
• Code folding
• Unlimited undo/redo
• Unlimited tabs
• Find/Replace
• Code auto-completion

PHPanywhere is basically giving you a fully functional, advanced Integrated Development Environment for free. Your code is still hosted on your own hardware, but you can get at it from anywhere. This includes not only PHP code, but basic HTML as well. Maintaining HTML code can be a pain if you’re dealing with FTP directly.

With PHPanywhere, there is no software to download or install. Simply login to the site and you have access to all the files on all the servers you have added. Keep multiple projects in order using the grouping feature. Skins allow you to customize the look and feel of the interface. This is a full blown FTP client, so all the file management features you would expect to find are there, including changing permissions on files.

Because you’re working within the browser, there is no need to worry about technical security details. There are no ports that need to be opened or services that need to be allowed. Even if your corporate firewall is blocking FTP, you still have access to your code because it’s working via the standard HTTP web protocol.

Whether you’re a web application developer, or just a web site developer, PHPanywhere can potentially make your life a lot easier. No more fiddling around with your FTP client, downloading and uploading after every change. No worries about whether you’ll be able to access your FTP server from a specific network or computer. Easy access to your files wherever you are in case there is an emergency and something needs to be fixed. With many new features coming down the pipeline, PHPanywhere is definitely looking pretty useful.