I know you can develop web apps with only a text editor, but most of us use an IDE to enhance our productivity. I am an Eclipse fan, and am wondering if it would be worthwhile to at least look at what NetBeans has to offer.
Netbeans: Download it, install it, fire it up, start using it. Eclipse: Download it, install it, fire it up, go hunting for the other bits you need (Web server, app server, database etc etc)