I write a lot of JavaScript, I want it to look great, and be consistent.

• Look great: Beautification/Code Formatting
• Consistent: Linting tools: JSLint/JSHint.

Get to the point

• Beautifier: jsbeautifier.org - based Javascript Tools Textmate plugin.
• Linter: JSLint - Warning: JSLint will hurt your feelings.
• Integration: Works with multpile configurations, integrated into my Editor, and pre-commit check.

tl;dr

There is one feature I absolutely count on when developping: Code Formatting. This is the critical feature on which I choose my editor. It is why I loved Netbeans, which I since abandoned because it feels too heavy. Now I have moved on to Textmate, but I have a nagging feeling that the platform lock-in may yet bring me to Sublime Text 2 soon. (I have failed at Vim too many times to count...).

Beautifying

So TextMate has a decent built-in code formatter, and even a Javascript specific one, based on a 2007 php version of Einars Lielmanis's JSBeatifier. That beautifier is still one of finest for javascript, but the implementation shipped in TextMate needs an update. There are lots of third party bundles which integrate different flavors of this beautifier library into Textmate.

Linting

Next is linting, which is a code quality tool. For our puposes there are two choices JSLint and JSHint.

The easy part is accepting that any set of enforced quality policies is better that NONE. The harder part is to refine the configuration choices to maximize quality and safety while preserving enough flexibility and convinience.

Integration

The crux of the choices to make here depend on the workflow requirements.

Ideal Conditions:

• No restriction on platform or Editor.
• Adapts to different set of style/coding practices (different projects)
• Formatting is integrted into Editor(s), at least on each platform.
• Linting is performed as you type, and can be checked en masse at checkin (git pre-commit hook).

For my current Editor, Textmate, Javascript Tools, by Thomas Aylott aka subtleGradient, which I installed with Get Bundles.

There is also JSTools by Adam Hope, but it does not seeem to be as current. I also considered JSLintmate for jslint/jshint, but wanted a more integrated solution (that I didn;t write myself)

Now for configuration, and integration...