In-browser editors have one thing in common - they all suck. They're heavy, slow, and don't look nice. The formatting you get out on the other side is dodgy at best. The built-in editor feature varies wildly between browsers. Something that should have been a nailed-down, standardised feature across all browsers years ago is instead a fetid, rabid crocodile waiting to bite developers in the arse.
EditorDS is a project to create a browser editor that Doesn't Suck. I'm essentially building a word processor from the ground up, using HTML5's Canvas and a bit of Javascript and JQuery.
The design goals are for it to look good, be slim and fast, offer only essential features, and purposefully not work in old browsers. Backward compatibility be damned - if you're too lazy to have upgraded your web browser in the last year, then you don't deserve to use this super-cool editor.
I'm only planning ASCII support and minimal formatting. You won't even be able to change your font. You shouldn't get to change your font if you're using your editor to write a web page - that should happen in your front-end design. If you need to build middleware to speak to your word processor to include the last 200 songs you listened to while it scoures the web for cat pictures for you, then this isn't the editor for you. This editor is going to be about words.
Since I know nothing about developing word processors, I'm working it out as I go. If you'd like to get involved with advice, code, or moral support, it would be greatly appreciated.
Catch typing and write letters on canvasMove cursor with typingMove cursor with arrows forward and backwardDeleteWrap linesMove cursor to next and previous linesMove cursor by line with arrows up and downFix multiline deleteClean up cursor handlingMoving cursor with mouseBlinking cursorSelectingBug when selecting from first charDeleting selection- Formatting system
- Bold
- Italic
- Underline
- Strikethrough
- Font sizes
- Hard line breaks
- Soft line breaks
- Images
- Tables
- Copy and pasting
- Spellcheck
- …
- WIN!