Is there a reasonable workflow out there?
IntelliJ based browsers haven't been slow in a long time, but they're even faster now, just be sure you exclude node_modules and library directories by right clicking them and things will move pretty quickly.
tl;dr: Add "editor.zero.latency.typing=true" to the "idea.properties" file.
I switched from WebStorm (was using v9) to Cloud9 2 years ago and haven't looked back, for most Web Development jobs it makes more sense as you don't have to run a staging server to iterate on projects with clients (just send them a link) and you can collaborate in seconds.
I now work at Cloud9 :) after using it a while I was convinced working online where all your tools work together in the cloud is the future. It's way easier to integrate it with the rest of your work flow when you don't have that desktop cloud barrier.
However, this exemplifies why I find it hard to use web-based IDEs regularly[0].
I appreciate the work you guys do on Ace, it's amazing technology. I've built things with the Ace editor, but it's ridiculous to suggest than an editor that doesn't even edit the files on my computer has feature parity with Webstorm, an IntelliJ IDEA based editor. The PSI based AST system is smarter and better than Visual Studio and XCode, and IntelliJ IDEA is better technology than Apple or Microsoft was able to come up with for their own platforms. The number of plugins, the built in features, the fact it runs on my own computer make it unquestionably better than an editor that runs in a browser.
You disservice to a great web editor by suggesting it's better than a native editor like IntelliJ. I write front-end code for a living and in no shape or form would I ever want to use the Ace editor when I didn't have to. It works for sites like CodePen, GitHub and jsfiddle when they're needed, it doesn't replace writing code on my own computer.
Web IDEs are fun. The IDEs satisfy a subset of users' need to try something new built on technologies they're familiar with. They might feel warm and fuzzy hearing certain buzzwords that describe the project.
But when it comes to getting shit done and having features that developers and companies will pay to use, JetBrains' and Microsoft's IDEs are the only ones to even come close to being real professional grade tools.
Yes, those options exist. They cover basic use-cases well, but come apart at the seams for others.
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Wait, when you say "web ide", do you mean "to make web projects" or do you mean "web-based ide"?
That is a really interesting question.
For 1: If you have no money try NetBeans / Eclipse. In my experience eclipse can be a pain in the ass if you need certain plugins etc. Sometimes you have to search the web for repo-adresses that are compatible with your IDE-version and the other plugins and if you don't use a new version you may have trouble installing plugins from the marketplace. NB is pretty good for open source software and I prefer it to Eclipse.
If you have the money / are a student (who don't have to pay), just use WebStorm / IntelliJ Idea. It is a really superior IDE and you don't want to use anything else once you tried the integration / workflow with it, it's just beautiful how things 'just work'.
For 2: I checked out codio, but the price is really expensive and I'd rather use intelliJ etc. Depending on what you want to write something like Firefox Web IDE doesn't look that bad (https://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/Tools/WebIDE). For the web I think the best thing would be to port atom.io to a webApp. This would be the next awesome thing ;-)
https://www.visualstudio.com/en-us/products/visual-studio-co...
I think that SourceLair (https://www.sourcelair.com) could fit your needs.
It let's you work on Node.js web applications in your browser and write both client side (including React JSX) and server side JavaScript.
You also get an HTTPS public URL (subdomain) that works out of the box with Node.js, while it integrates with Git and GitHub in order to collaborate and lets you deploy your projects to Heroku with a single click.
You can try it out for free at https://www.sourcelair.com.
Disclaimer: I am one of the people who co-founded and built SourceLair.
Everything else, command line. I used to be the biggest IDE fan ( had my Eclipse kitted out with 4GB allocated, all the hotkeys, etc ), but I don't do Java or AS3 programming anymore and even though sometimes i still find myself missing certain types of autocompletion, I've started to become jaded on the concept of IDEs as the command line is just so much more versatile and memory efficient. Sublime Text and the command line are really all you need these days, unless you're doing C#/C++ ( in which case I'd suggest Visual Studio ) or iphone native (Xcode obvi).