Netbeans is not perfect, and there are some features that need to be polished (Ex.: SVN Support, Time Tracking like Mylyn), but the PHP/HTML/CSS/JS Support is excellent, in my opinion better than the Eclipse PDF support.

These is my netbeans_default_options for Netbeans for MacOSX (under Windows you can leave out the --laf switch, it's for changing the look and feel):

netbeans_default_options="-J-client -J-Xss2m -J-Xms32m -J-Xmx512m -J-XX:PermSize=32m -J-XX:MaxPermSize=200m -J-Xverify:none -J-XX:CompileThreshold=100 -XX:+CompressedOOPS -XX:+AggressiveOpts -XX:+TieredCompilation -XX:+DoEscapeAnalysis -XX:+UseConcMarkSweepGC -J-XX:+CMSClassUnloadingEnabled -J-XX:+CMSPermGenSweepingEnabled -J-Dapple.laf.useScreenMenuBar=true -J-Dsun.java2d.noddraw=true --laf javax.swing.plaf.metal.MetalLookAndFeel"

Some switches come from Netbeans Performance site.

• -J-Xss2m - Define Stack Size (Too small and you will get StackOverflow Exceptions)
• -J-Xms32m - This setting tells the Java virtual machine to set its initial heap size to 32 megabytes. By telling the JVM how much memory it should initially allocate for the heap, we save it growing the heap as NetBeans consumes more memory. This switch improves startup time
• -J-Xmx512m - This settings tells the Java virtual machine the maximum amount of memory it should use for the heap. Placing a hard upper limit on this number means that the Java process cannot consume more memory than physical RAM available. This limit can be raised on systems with more memory. Current default value is 128MB. Note: Do not set this value to near or greater than the amount of physical RAM in your system or it will cause severe swapping during runtime
• -J-XX:PermSize=32m -J-XX:MaxPermSize=200m - How much Heap can be added over the Xmx limit
• -J-Xverify:none - This switch turns off Java bytecode verification, making classloading faster, and eliminating the need for classes to be loaded during startup solely for the purposes of verification. This switch improves startup time, and there is no reason not to use it
• -J-XX:CompileThreshold=100 - This switch will make startup time slower, by HotSpot to compile many more methods down to native code sooner than it otherwise would. The reported result is snappier performance once the IDE is running, since more of the UI code will be compiled rather than interpreted. This value represents the number of times a method must be called before it will be compiled
• -XX:+CompressedOOPS - Activate Compressed "Ordinary Object Pointer"
• -XX:+AggressiveOpts - Turns on point performance optimizations that are expected to be on by default in upcoming releases
• -XX:+TieredCompilation - Activate Tiered Compiler
• -XX:+DoEscapeAnalysis - Activate Escape Analysis
• -J-XX:+UseConcMarkSweepGC or -J-XX:+UseParNewGC Try these switches if you are having problems with intrusive garbage collection pauses. This switch causes the JVM to use different algorithms for major garbage collection events (also for minor collections, if run on a multiprocessor workstation), ones which do not "stop the world" for the entire garbage collection process. You should also add the line -J-XX:+CMSClassUnloadingEnabled and -J-XX:+CMSPermGenSweepingEnabled to your netbeans.conf file so that class unloading is enabled (it isn't by default when using this collector)

First of all we need to download Eclipse Classic from the Eclipse website.

One of the first things we need to do is to change eclipse.ini, we will make it start faster and increase the memory limit

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--launcher.XXMaxPermSize
256m
-vm
/usr/bin/java
-vmargs
-Xms40m
-Xmx1024m

The path to Java VM depends on your installation and system, in windows you must search for "javaw.exe". Setting the path to Java VM makes that Eclipse stops searching for the Java VM every start, which makes the start faster.

Now we can start installing the required Plugins. In "Help->Install New Software..." we will add the following Update Sites.

• Aptana - http://update15.aptana.org/studio/25914/

  

• Mylyn - http://download.eclipse.org/tools/mylyn/update/e3.4

  

• Mylyn Extras - http://download.eclipse.org/tools/mylyn/update/extras

  

• SVNKit - http://community.polarion.com/projects/subversive/download/eclipse/2.0/galileo-site/

  

• EPIC (Perl) - http://e-p-i-c.sourceforge.net/updates/testing optional, only if you need Perl

  

You have noticed that at each start a Window Asking for Installing Addiontal Features. Now that we can start installing this features. For me the most important are:

• Aptana PHP

  

• Aptana PyDev optional, only if you need Python

  

• Ajax Libraries You can select all or just the one you need

  

After installing all needed plugins we can start with the configuration.

1. General\Workspace
   • Text file encoding -> UTF-8
   • New text file line delimiter -> Unix
2. General\Editors\Text Editors
   • Displayed tab width -> 4
   • Insert spaces for tabs -> True
   • Show line number -> True
   • Show print margin -> True
   • Print margin column -> 80
3. General\Keys
   • Show Whitespace Characters (Text Editing) -> Binding: Ctrl+Alt+Space -> When: Editing Text
4. Aptana\Editors
   • Formattings -> Insert selected proposal with 'Tab' key as well as 'Enter' key -> True
   • Tab Insertion -> Use spaces (current width is 4)
5. Aptana\Editors\PHP
   • Create project file in new PHP project -> False
6. Aptana\Editors\PHP\Formatting
   • Edit... ->
     • Profile Name -> ZendStandards
     • Control Statemets ->
       • Insert new line before 'else' in an 'if' statement -> False
       • Insert new line before 'catch' in an 'try' statement -> False
       • Insert new line before 'while' in an 'do' statement -> False
       • 'if else' - Keep 'then' statement on same line -> False
     • Braces ->
       • Method declaration -> Next line
       • Blocks -> Same line
       • Blocks in case statement -> Same line
       • 'switch' statement -> Same line
7. Install/Update\Automatic Updates
   • Automatically find new updates and notify me -> True
8. Team\SVN - SVN Client
   • SVN Client -> SVN Kit
   • SVN Client -> Use SVN Merge View -> True
9. Team\SVN\Automatic Properties
   • Add: * -> svn:keywords=Id

I use the Aptana Perspective with this views:

• Right Top
  • Aptana Standard Views\Project
• Right Bottom
  • General\Outline
  • Aptana Standard Views\PHP Elements Views
  • Aptana Standard Views\References
• Bottom
  • General\Tasks
  • Aptana Standard Views\Validation
  • General\Console
  • Team\History
  • Team\SVN Properties
  • EPIC\RegExp only if you installed EPIC
• Left
  • Tasks\Task List

I like that the Oultine is automatically expanded, so that I have an overview of the file at every moment, but Aptana does not autoexpand the Outline. I use the following workaround:

• Create a new General Project called "_Monkey"
• Create a folder called scripts
• Create a javascript file called autoExpandOutline.js with the following content

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  /* * * Menu: EHU > HandlerService (Auto expand outline) * Kudos: Ingo Muschenetz & Kevin Lindsey & Steve Daniels * License: EPL 1.0 * Listener: getPartService().addPartListener(this); * DOM: http://localhost/com.aptana.ide.scripting * DOM: http://download.eclipse.org/technology/dash/update/org.eclipse.eclipsemonkey.lang.javascript * * */   function getPartService() { var workbench = Packages.org.eclipse.ui.PlatformUI.getWorkbench(); var result = null;   if (workbench) { var window = null;   runOnUIThread(function() { window = workbench.getActiveWorkbenchWindow();   if (window != null) { result = window.getPartService(); //out.println("result set to " + result); } else { //out.println("window is not defined"); } }); } else { //out.println("workbench is not defined"); }   //out.println("getPartService() is returning " + result);   return result; }   function partBroughtToTop(part) { //out.println("part*()\n"); }   function partClosed(part) { //out.println("part*()\n"); }   function partDeactivated(part) { //out.println("part*()\n"); }   function partOpened(part) { //out.println("part*()\n"); }   function partActivated(part) { if (part.getEditorInput) { expandOutline(); } }   function partVisible(part) { //out.println("part*()\n"); }   function partHidden(part) { //out.println("part*()\n"); }   function expandOutline() { //out.println("expandOutline()\n"); try { //out.println("try\n"); var editor = editors.activeEditor.textEditor;   editor.getOutlinePage().getTreeViewer().expandAll(); } catch (e) { //out.println("catch\n"); } }

Each new project that you create must use this project as reference, and now every time you open a file the Outline will be expanded automatically when you enter into the Editor