the simple humble web-browser textarea...<p>i'm typing in one, right now...<p>we seem to be "stuck" with it. for now.
and maybe for a long time into the future.<p>so let's think how to make the best of it.<p>what if we supercharge it, and pair it with
a nice div that displays formatted output,
treating the textarea text as light-markup?<p>the paired-div display part is really simple
-- almost every markdown editor does that --
but how would _you_ "supercharge" the textarea?<p>first, you have to accept what it can't do,
which is to display text of different sizes,
different colors, or with different styling.<p>anything else -- everything else! -- is open.<p>oh, and we're not even trying to do wysiwyg.
your focus must be the "semantic" structure.<p>a look at medium's editor shows buttons for:
bold, italics, headers, lists, blockquotes,
rules, and links. it also supports embeds,
in addition to the standard .html image-tag.
and it has a word-counter. because #whynot.<p>not included are what could be valuable things
like find-and-replace, to mention the obvious.<p>plus -- as we go to the 2-pane interface --
(a) auto table-of-contents with active links,
and (b) sync of the text and display fields
_when_ a user wants but free-float when not,
and (c) and (d) and (e) and (f) and...<p>i could go on. but i'm asking _you_ instead.<p>if you wanna post a comment in response, great;
i can appreciate a good think-piece just fine.<p>but if you really want to get a lot of respect,
code the javascript to make your thoughts real.<p>could be an fun weekend project, yes? :+)<p>if this draws any interest, i will upload my
work thus far. so if you'd like a head-start
with some actual code, you can wait for that.<p>otherwise, jump in without my preconceptions.<p>because, as we're stuck with this textarea shit,
we might as well turn it into a shit sandwich.<p>-bowerbird