Building Web-Based Tools and IDEs - Pitfalls and Best Practices

The world of web-based tools and IDEs continues to advance rapidly, with new innovations emerging constantly. At the same time, the ecosystem has reached a level of maturity, offering well-established practices and a wealth of existing projects to learn from. For existing desktop tools, this is the ideal moment to start planning their migration to web-based solutions to stay competitive and future-proof their offerings. As a service provider specializing in building web-based tools, we share our expertise and lessons learned from building and migrating these tools.

We recently gave a talk at OCX about this topic, and in case you missed it, here is the recording:

In this presentation, you’ll learn about:

• The general shift towards a more mature web-based tool ecosystem.

• Migration strategies from desktop tools and their strategic implications. It is important to all tool and IDE projects that are still on desktop technologies to develop a plan and strategy now!

• The increasing trend of handling more tasks within the browser while keeping deployment options flexible.

• Crucial considerations for choosing the right technologies, including popular platforms like Eclipse Theia and VS Code.

• The importance of understanding licensing and legal implications before committing to a specific platform.

We offer practical advice based on our extensive experience with numerous customer projects, providing insights into both the pitfalls and best practices of developing web-based tools. For instance, successful migrations often start with a thorough assessment of existing desktop tools, followed by creating proof-of-concepts to address technical challenges early. Addressing potential migration obstacles proactively can significantly smoothen the transition.

If you are interested in building custom web-based tools or migrating existing desktop tools, EclipseSource provides consulting and implementation services backed by our extensive experience with successful migrations. We also specialize in AI-powered tools and support for popular platforms like Eclipse Theia and VS Code.

Additionally, we offer consulting and support for hosting web-based tools in the cloud.

Get in contact with us.