Building an Editor: Part 1

I started experimenting with building a text editor over the weekend, guided by curiosity without any rigid constraints. It’s keyboard-driven, built on simplicity—just me exploring what I think feels natural in a writing space.

The editor uses localStorage currently, with a simple revisions history that lets you look back at what you wrote. And I’m considering adding WordPress integration similar to what @pootlepress did with Pootle Writer, making it possible to create drafts directly on your WordPress site.

The foundation is built with Cursor, Next.js, shadcn, Tailwind, and Tiptap, but what makes this exploration special isn’t the tech stack—it’s the freedom unlocked by tools like Cursor and v0 that make building more possible than ever.

It’s a work in progress—certainly some quirks—but you can try what I’ve built so far. If you do, leave a comment and let me know what you think.

Subscribe below to get updates as I experiment with this—it’ll be good fun.

Responses

  1. Remkus Avatar
    Remkus

    I love these experiments you do! And in particular, the way you “scroll” through revisions here is gorgeous. Wish we had it like that in other places 😉

    Reply
  2. Matt Avatar
    Matt

    Just tried it out. I definitely like the revisions feature, and maybe that is all it is intending to do at present. I see this as being most useful (to me) as a tool to write an email.
    Having the revision history would allow me to go back, grab something previously deleted, insert it back into the latest version, and continue editing.

    Obviously it’s a work in progress. The one thing missing right now that I see is “what do I do next”? It doesn’t have to be a publish-to-WordPress function like Pootlewriter (which I’ve also tried and liked) but perhaps a button to select-all and copy, for easy pasting into the email or blog post?

    Nice work, and I’ll be paying attention!

    Reply
    1. Rich Tabor Avatar
      Rich Tabor

      Appreciate it Matt. Yea, revisions was just an idea I wanted to flex a bit. I think I’ll add multi-doc support and perhaps a way to copy all easily in different formats, or send it to a WordPress site. Thanks!

      Reply
  3. Ahmet Avatar
    Ahmet

    Hi Rich!

    We’ve been following everything you’ve built around simplicity and minimalism with great admiration. Years ago, I saw many of WordPress’s features as unnecessary and decided to try Ghost as a blogging platform. Its built-in Markdown editor provided an excellent writing experience, helping me stay focused.

    What you’re working on now will give writers unparalleled freedom to focus solely on their craft. Everything looks fantastic so far, and we’re eagerly awaiting the full release!

    Reply
    1. Rich Tabor Avatar
      Rich Tabor

      Hey thanks Ahmet! Is there anything in particular that you love about the Ghost editing experience?

      Reply
  4. Derin Tolu Avatar
    Derin Tolu

    OMG I’ve been wanting to do this too…the option to allow clients to edit on the front end like this would be awesome. Just the option to do this simply would be killer!

    Reply

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