Before you begin developing a JSF application, you’ll need to install a Liferay development environment. Although it’s possible to use anything from a text editor and command line to any Java IDE available, Liferay provides two nearly identical development tools that provide a much easier developer experience and aids in writing code on Liferay’s platform.
Liferay IDE is Liferay’s free development environment that is based on Eclipse, a widely used open source IDE. In fact, Liferay IDE is a plugin for Eclipse that brings many Liferay-specific features to the table. If you’d like to use IDE and need installation instructions, visit the Developing Applications with Liferay IDE learning path.
Furthermore, Liferay Developer Studio is available for Liferay Enterprise Edition subscribers, or those interested in Liferay’s premier development environment. For installation instruction for Liferay Developer Studio, visit the Developing Applications with Liferay Developer Studio learning path.
Now that your development environment is installed, you can begin creating a basic JSF application.