Designers are well served by tools for creating web pages but developers used to struggle to find a convincing IDE to help them create server-side HTML with PHP. JetBrains PhpStorm extends WebStorm with full-fledged support for PHP. Version 3.0 is now out.

PhpStorm 3.0 introduces a new integrated UML tool,  a Profiler to ensure that your code works fast. and  a Smart Duplicated Code Detector to help you find similar blocks in your code base.

If you like working graphically you can now summon UML class diagrams for PHP code from context menus. They allow you to examine your application structure, create and edit classes and their relationships. Many refactorings can be applied directly from the diagram, via the shortcut menu.

The new Profiler enables you to profile scrips from PHPStorm with either xDebug and Zend Debugger to see an aggregate report and jump from the execution statistics directly to the function in your PHP code.

The Smart Duplicated Code Detector covers all major supported languages, including CSS and HTML. When you use Code|Locate Duplicates you'll be presented with a list of candidates for refactoring, making it easy to eliminate repeats with the help of Refactor|Extract Method.

There are also improvements to the debugger and to unit testing, with JavaScript Unit Testing support provided as a plugin New options in PhpDoc formatting give full support to  Zend, PEAR and other standards.

More information can be found on the What's New page for PhpStorm 3.0 where you can download a 30-day free trial.

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