I earlier this month I spent way too much time trying to SFTP to Ubuntu Server with Sublime Text. The purpose of the SFTP effort was to set myself up for developing modern web applications on a new Windows 8 machine I bought to play SimCity 2013. And after getting everything working I realized the SFTP method had some gremlins and the file syncing reminded me of Dreamweaver—it simply wasn’t fast enough.

Lately, unless you were running a Linux machine or had the pleasure of owning a Mac with OS X, developing modern web applications has been a bit of a kludge. Enter Vagrant.

Vagrant is a tool for building complete development environments. With an easy-to-use workflow and focus on automation, Vagrant lowers development environment setup time, increases development/production parity, and makes the “works on my machine” excuse a relic of the past.

In this article I’ll explain how to set up a development environment in Windows using a virtualized Linux box, suitable for rapid prototyping. Then I’ll take it a step further and explain how to integrate a Backbone-based application framework with Vagrant and Sublime Text, greatly increasing the speed for developing modern web applications on Windows.

Sublime Text with CoffeeScript is a JavaScript developer’s dream, but one that doesn’t evaporate in the fog of sleep shortly after waking. After learning about Sublime Text at Fluent Conf 2012 during a plenary talk from Paul Irish, I immediately began looking for ways to incorporate it into my workflow. And now, after having used it for over 8 months in my day-to-day work, I wanted to share a quick primer for those who want to amp up CoffeeScript coding with Sublime Text too.

Remote projects in Eclipse can be a great way of managing websites from thin clients, as well as sites with existing backup processes in place.

To create a remote project use RSE to establish a new connection using one of the available connection types (such as SSH).

There are few front-end web developers I know who actually use the Eclipse editor for development. Whether it’s the complexity of the IDE or simply resistance to change I cannot say. Working with Eclipse on enterprise apps has some serious advantages when it comes to working in multidisciplinary teams. And wrenching on a UI is no exception.

As of late HTML5 is beginning to bear the shine of a recently waxed Tesla Roadster. It’s hard not to want to jump right in and hit the gas. But wait, the HTML5 spec is still in draft. Is it safe to turn over the ignition? Well, it depends. But here are 5 Reasons Why You Can Use HTML5 Today ( archive).

Last year when Eclipse Helios was released HTML5 didn’t validate within the IDE. But somewhere between that release and the latest Helios service release, support was added for actual *native* HTML5 ( archive) elements in Eclipse, no plugin required! And you don’t need to be running Aptana either. Awesomesauce!

The following instructions will help Eclipse newcomers and experienced client-side developers alike get started, kinda like a big smokey burnout.