diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 3151c335..6ba72d89 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,10 +1,4 @@
-.Rproj.user
-.Rhistory
-.RData
-tools/DataTables*
-tools/Plugins
-rsconnect/
-large.txt
-inst/examples/random.R
-.*.Rnb.cached
-revdep/
+.Rproj.user
+.Rhistory
+.RData
+.DS_Store
diff --git a/inst/examples/DT-edit/app.R b/inst/examples/DT-edit/app.R
index 36db1cd5..116dd425 100644
--- a/inst/examples/DT-edit/app.R
+++ b/inst/examples/DT-edit/app.R
@@ -3,43 +3,29 @@ library(DT)
 shinyApp(
   ui = fluidPage(
     title = 'Double-click to edit table cells',
-    fluidRow(column(12, h1('Client-side processing'), hr(), DTOutput('x1'))),
-    fluidRow(column(12, h1('Server-side processing'), hr(), DTOutput('x2'))),
-    fluidRow(column(12, h1('Server-side processing (no row names)'), hr(), DTOutput('x3')))
+    titlePanel('Double-click to edit table cells'),
+    DTOutput('x1')
   ),
   server = function(input, output, session) {
     d1 = iris
-    d1$Date = Sys.time() + seq_len(nrow(d1))
-    d2 = d3 = d1
 
-    options(DT.options = list(pageLength = 5))
+    output$x1 = renderDT(d1, selection = "none", editable = T, rownames = T, options = list(
+      editType = list("0" = "text", "1" = "text", "2" = "text", "3" = "text", "4" = "select"),
+      editAttribs = list("0" = list(placeholder = "Length"), "1" = list(placeholder = "Width"),
+                         "2" = list(placeholder = "Length"), "3" = list(placeholder = "Width"),
+                         "4" = list(options = c("setosa", "versicolor", "virginica")))
+    ))
 
-    output$x1 = renderDT(d1, selection = 'none', server = FALSE, editable = TRUE)
-    output$x2 = renderDT(d2, selection = 'none', editable = TRUE)
-    output$x3 = renderDT(d3, selection = 'none', rownames = FALSE, editable = TRUE)
-
-    proxy2 = dataTableProxy('x2')
-
-    observeEvent(input$x2_cell_edit, {
-      info = input$x2_cell_edit
+    proxy1 = dataTableProxy('x1')
+    
+    observeEvent(input$x1_cell_edit, {
+      info = input$x1_cell_edit
       str(info)
       i = info$row
       j = info$col
       v = info$value
-      d2[i, j] <<- DT::coerceValue(v, d2[i, j])
-      replaceData(proxy2, d2, resetPaging = FALSE)  # important
-    })
-
-    proxy3 = dataTableProxy('x3')
-
-    observeEvent(input$x3_cell_edit, {
-      info = input$x3_cell_edit
-      str(info)
-      i = info$row
-      j = info$col + 1  # column index offset by 1
-      v = info$value
-      d3[i, j] <<- DT::coerceValue(v, d3[i, j])
-      replaceData(proxy3, d3, resetPaging = FALSE, rownames = FALSE)
+      d1[i, j] <<- DT::coerceValue(v, d1[i, j])
+      replaceData(proxy1, d1, resetPaging = FALSE)  # important
     })
   }
 )
diff --git a/inst/htmlwidgets/datatables.js b/inst/htmlwidgets/datatables.js
index d66752c9..7ff11415 100644
--- a/inst/htmlwidgets/datatables.js
+++ b/inst/htmlwidgets/datatables.js
@@ -682,29 +682,136 @@ HTMLWidgets.widget({
     // run the callback function on the table instance
     if (typeof data.callback === 'function') data.callback(table);
 
-    // double click to edit the cell
-    if (data.editable) table.on('dblclick.dt', 'tbody td', function() {
-      var $input = $('<input type="text">');
-      var $this = $(this), value = table.cell(this).data(), html = $this.html();
-      var changed = false;
-      $input.val(value);
-      $this.empty().append($input);
-      $input.css('width', '100%').focus().on('change', function() {
-        changed = true;
-        var valueNew = $input.val();
-        if (valueNew != value) {
-          table.cell($this).data(valueNew);
-          if (HTMLWidgets.shinyMode) changeInput('cell_edit', cellInfo($this));
-          // for server-side processing, users have to call replaceData() to update the table
-          if (!server) table.draw(false);
-        } else {
-          $this.html(html);
+    // editor is enabled
+    if (data.editable) {
+      var editorNextCell = null; // declare variable for next cell to be acivated by the tab key
+      var options = table.init(); // load table options
+      if ('editType' in options) {
+        for (var key in options.editType) {
+          colIndex = parseInt(key);
+          if (table.column(0).header().innerHTML == ' ')
+            colIndex = colIndex + 1;
+          $(table.column(colIndex).header()).attr('data-editortype', options.editType[key]).attr('data-editoroptions', JSON.stringify(options.editAttribs[key])); // set column editor attributes
+        }
+      } else {
+        table.columns().every(function() {
+          if (this.header().innerHTML != ' ')
+            $(this.header()).attr('data-editortype', 'text').attr('data-editoroptions', JSON.stringify({placeholder: this.header().innerHTML})); // set column editor attributes
+        });
+      }
+      
+      // double click to edit the cell
+      table.on('dblclick.dt', 'tbody td', function() {
+        if (table.column(this).header().hasAttribute('data-editortype')) { // cell is marked as editable
+          var $this = $(this), value = table.cell(this).data(), html = $this.html();
+          var changed = false;
+          if (table.column(this).header().getAttribute('data-editortype') == 'text') { // cell shall display a textinput
+            var $input = $('<input type="text">');
+            $input.val(value);
+            $input.attr('placeholder', JSON.parse(table.column(this).header().getAttribute('data-editoroptions')).placeholder);
+          } else if (table.column(this).header().getAttribute('data-editortype') == 'select') { // cell shall display a selectinput
+            var $input = $('<select>');
+            $(JSON.parse(table.column(this).header().getAttribute('data-editoroptions')).options).each(function(index, val) {
+              $option = $('<option>').attr('value', val).text(val);
+              if (val == value) $option.attr('selected','selected');
+              $input.append($option);
+            });
+          }
+          $this.empty().append($input);
+          $input.css('width', '100%').focus().on('change', function() {
+            changed = true;
+            var valueNew = $input.val();
+            if (valueNew != value) {
+              table.cell($this).data(valueNew);
+              if (HTMLWidgets.shinyMode) changeInput('cell_edit', cellInfo($this));
+              // for server-side processing, users have to call replaceData() to update the table
+              if (!server) table.draw(false);
+            } else {
+              $this.html(html);
+            }
+            $input.remove();
+          }).on('blur', function() {
+            if (!changed) $input.trigger('change');
+          }).on('keydown', function(ev) {
+            if (ev.keyCode == 13) { // enter
+              if (!changed) $input.trigger('change');
+            } else if (ev.keyCode == 27) { //escape
+              $this.html(html);
+            } else if (ev.keyCode == 9) { //tab
+            if (!changed) $input.trigger('change');
+              if (ev.shiftKey) {
+                // find previous editable column
+                var column = table.column($this).header();
+                do {
+                  column = column.previousSibling;
+                }
+                while (column !== null && !column.hasAttribute('data-editortype'));
+                if (column === null) { // a editable column was not found before the current column, search after the current column
+                  column = table.column($this).header().parentElement.lastChild;
+                  while (!column.hasAttribute('data-editortype'))
+                    column = column.previousSibling;
+                }
+                var nextColNumber = $(column).parent().children().index(column); // calculate the index of the previous editable column
+  
+                if (nextColNumber < table.cell($this).index().column) { // next column is in same line
+                  ev.preventDefault();
+                  $(table.cell(table.cell($this).index().row, nextColNumber).node()).dblclick(); // activate editor in next cell
+                  if (HTMLWidgets.shinyMode) editorNextCell = [table.cell($this).index().row, nextColNumber]; // save next cell to be clicked after a possible table reload by the server
+                } else { // next column is in the previous row
+                  // find previous row in the current ordering, pagination and search
+                  var rows = table.rows({order: 'current', page: 'current', search: 'applied'}).indexes();
+                  var i = 0;
+                  while (i < rows.length && rows[i] != table.cell($this).index().row)
+                    i++;
+                  if (i > 0) {
+                    ev.preventDefault();
+                    $(table.cell(rows[i-1], nextColNumber).node()).dblclick(); // activate editor in next cell
+                    if (HTMLWidgets.shinyMode) editorNextCell = [rows[i-1], nextColNumber]; // save next cell to be clicked after a possible table reload by the server
+                  }
+                }
+              } else {
+                // find next editable column
+                var column = table.column($this).header();
+                do {
+                  column = column.nextSibling;
+                }
+                while (column !== null && !column.hasAttribute('data-editortype'));
+                if (column === null) { // a editable column was not found after the current column, search before the current column
+                  column = table.column(0).header();
+                  while (!column.hasAttribute('data-editortype'))
+                    column = column.nextSibling;
+                }
+                var nextColNumber = $(column).parent().children().index(column); // calculate the index of the next editable column
+  
+                if (nextColNumber > table.cell($this).index().column) { // next column is in same line
+                  ev.preventDefault();
+                  $(table.cell(table.cell($this).index().row, nextColNumber).node()).dblclick(); // activate editor in next cell
+                  if (HTMLWidgets.shinyMode) editorNextCell = [table.cell($this).index().row, nextColNumber]; // save next cell to be clicked after a possible table reload by the server
+                } else { // next column is in the following row
+                  // find next row in the current ordering, pagination and search
+                  var rows = table.rows({order: 'current', page: 'current', search: 'applied'}).indexes();
+                  var i = 0;
+                  while (i < rows.length && rows[i] != table.cell($this).index().row)
+                    i++;
+                  if (i < (rows.length - 1)) {
+                    ev.preventDefault();
+                    $(table.cell(rows[i+1], nextColNumber).node()).dblclick(); // activate editor in next cell
+                    if (HTMLWidgets.shinyMode) editorNextCell = [rows[i+1], nextColNumber]; // save next cell to be clicked after a possible table reload by the server
+                  }
+                }
+              }
+            }
+          });
         }
-        $input.remove();
-      }).on('blur', function() {
-        if (!changed) $input.trigger('change');
       });
-    });
+      
+      table.on('draw.dt', function (e, settings) {
+        if (typeof(editorNextCell) !== 'undefined' && editorNextCell !== null) { // table was redrawn due to an edited cell applied by pressing the tab key
+          $(table.cell(editorNextCell[0], editorNextCell[1]).node()).dblclick(); // activate editor in next cell
+          editorNextCell = null;
+        }
+      })  
+    }
 
     // interaction with shiny
     if (!HTMLWidgets.shinyMode && !crosstalkOptions.group) return;