I am working on a project where I am quite comfortable running linux, virtualenv, pip, manage.py runserver, git and so on for back-end development. I work with a front-end developer who needs to collaborate remotely, currently via a Dropbox synced copy of the codebase (also in a git branch) on Windows. A development server on my side lets the developer see their changes semi-live.
Although this has served us fairly well so far, has anyone come across a similar working arrangement with a better setup for collaboration?
I'm mindful that the source control learning curve and environmental management overhead is potentially significant and somewhat unnecessary for front-end work (as long as I commit from time to time). I'm considering a VM based setup such as BitNami's DjangoStack so that the front-end dev has their own server setup, but I thought I'd ask about other experiences.