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Instant, low-overhead text editor in your browser

B S Magnet

B S Magnet

macrumors 603
Original poster
Dec 5, 2018
5,106
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23:58:30. Unceded Treaty 13 lands of N Turtle Isle
Perhaps this is old knowledge for some of you, but it is new to me. I figure I could pass it along to everyone here.

By entering the following string in the URL bar of whatever browser you use, you can render the tab/window as a basic, barebones text editor:

Code: 
data:text/html,<html contenteditable>


I’m not sure what kind of utility any of you might make of it, but I find it seems to work well, even on my clamshell iBook running TFF. I tested it as well in Leopard WebKit, so this appears to be browser-agnostic.

And yes, you can save whatever you type as a plain text file.
 
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Works in Vivaldi on Mojave as well…nice. That might be useful in one of my workflow's. Thanks!

Vivaldi.png
 
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B S Magnet said:
Perhaps this is old knowledge for some of you, but it is new to me. I figure I could pass it along to everyone here.

By entering the following string in the URL bar of whatever browser you use, you can render the tab/window as a basic, barebones text editor:

Code: 
data:text/html,<html contenteditable>


I’m not sure what kind of utility any of you might make of it, but I find it seems to work well, even on my clamshell iBook running TFF. I tested it as well in Leopard WebKit, so this appears to be browser-agnostic.

And yes, you can save whatever you type as a plain text file.
Click to expand...
Wow, great!
It's even possible to ad pictures!
picture.png
 
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Wowfunhappy said:
What advantages do you guys see of using this over TextEdit?
Click to expand...
As a confessed lazy person this means that if I am searching for stuff on the net when writing all I have to do is copy/paste from one browser tab to another. When I'm done I can save a text file. While I can keep TextEdit (or usually Word) up and switch between apps, this is one less app to keep open. Hell, if I detach the tab into it's own window it's right there on a second monitor and I don't switch apps at all.
 
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So here's a thing…Microsoft Word will interpret the HTML with the proper formatting. So, save as an html file and either open direct or give it a .doc extension and open. Works either way.

This is perfect as I don't have to apply the formatting myself, it just translates.

I've made the 'url' a bookmark so I can call it any time.
 
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Hey that’s cool but I’d worry about losing data accidentally by fat fingering the tab. Auto save functionality has saved my butt more than once. In the fervor of creation is when something utterly stupid happens like your cat jumps on your keyboard and closes out your browser instance or some other unforeseeable horsecrap.
 
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RhianB said:
Hey that’s cool but I’d worry about losing data accidentally by fat fingering the tab. Auto save functionality has saved my butt more than once. In the fervor of creation is when something utterly stupid happens like your cat jumps on your keyboard and closes out your browser instance or some other unforeseeable horsecrap.
Click to expand...
For me, this would be something that is intended to be quick and transitory. If I am actually engaged in writing something up, I'm going to be pasting directly into Word (or InDesign). Despite my happiness that I can essentially write out a file that Word will read my formatting on, underneath is all the HTML garbage that Word is interpreting. Files like this are going to be selectively copied and pasted into my actual documents.

All this to say that should my cat jump on my keyboard or my fingers press a wrong button I'm not going to be too worried about it. The cat on the other hand should himself be worried - about me! He's been trained not to be on tables, counters, desks or any other surfaces that are not specifically designed for humans to sit on or in. :)
 
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eyoungren said:
For me, this would be something that is intended to be quick and transitory. If I am actually engaged in writing something up, I'm going to be pasting directly into Word (or InDesign). Despite my happiness that I can essentially write out a file that Word will read my formatting on, underneath is all the HTML garbage that Word is interpreting. Files like this are going to be selectively copied and pasted into my actual documents.

All this to say that should my cat jump on my keyboard or my fingers press a wrong button I'm not going to be too worried about it. The cat on the other hand should himself be worried - about me! He's been trained not to be on tables, counters, desks or any other surfaces that are not specifically designed for humans to sit on or in. :)
Click to expand...
Yanno if it could be figured out how to fold an auto save script into that, I would absolutely use it. I love the efficiency of it all. As far as productivity suites, the only one I’m really married to is excel anyway. A free to use browser based basic text editor is really cool IMO. I think about all the students and young people out there that could utilize this. Heck what about a computer science type teacher in grade/mid school could make this lesson one and instruct their entire school years assignments be written in it and could lead to other lessons like the small script movement (or whatever it’s called) code design efficiency etc.

I think the practicality of it is absolutely fantastic.
 
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Here's a darker take on instant notes... Bookmark this in Leopard Webkit Bookmarks Bar (for Cmd-1 shortcut), Hide the Toolbar, Enter FullScreen (via megazoomer) for instant distraction-free note taking.

Code: 
data:text/html,%3Chtml%20contenteditable%20style%3D%22font-family%3AMenlo%2CMonaco%2Cmonospace%3Bfont-size%3A1rem%3Bbackground%3A%23111%20linear-gradient%280deg%2C%23333844%2C%231a1d24%29%3Bcolor%3A%23def%3Bpadding%3A1vh%3Bborder%3A15vw%20solid%20%231a1d24%3Bborder-top-width%3A0%3Bborder-bottom-width%3A0%3Bline-height%3A1.5rem%3Bword-break%3Abreak-word%3Bmax-width%3A70vw%3Bbackground-attachment%3Afixed%3Bmin-height%3A98vh%3B%22%3E%3Chead%3E%3Ctitle%3EDarkNote%3C%2Ftitle%3E%3C%2Fhead%3EMy%20notes...

Picture 1 copy.jpg


Screen Shot 2020-11-26 at 3.30.23 AM.png


(Requires Leopard WebKit or TenFourFox - might be fine on TenFourKit?)
 
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AphoticD said:
Here's a darker take on instant notes... Bookmark this in Leopard Webkit Bookmarks Bar (for Cmd-1 shortcut), Hide the Toolbar, Enter FullScreen (via megazoomer) for instant distraction-free note taking.

Code: 
data:text/html,%3Chtml%20contenteditable%20style%3D%22font-family%3AMenlo%2CMonaco%2Cmonospace%3Bfont-size%3A1rem%3Bbackground%3A%23111%20linear-gradient%280deg%2C%23333844%2C%231a1d24%29%3Bcolor%3A%23def%3Bpadding%3A1vh%3Bborder%3A15vw%20solid%20%231a1d24%3Bborder-top-width%3A0%3Bborder-bottom-width%3A0%3Bline-height%3A1.5rem%3Bword-break%3Abreak-word%3Bmax-width%3A70vw%3Bbackground-attachment%3Afixed%3Bmin-height%3A98vh%3B%22%3E%3Chead%3E%3Ctitle%3EDarkNote%3C%2Ftitle%3E%3C%2Fhead%3EMy%20notes...

View attachment 1679452

View attachment 1679411

(Requires Leopard WebKit or TenFourFox - might be fine on TenFourKit?)
Click to expand...
Nice!

I made the gradient uniform (the banding was hurting my eyes, esp when viewed via Remote Desktop) and swapped font priority (for Monaco, which is my preferred), to get this variant:

Code: 
data:text/html,%3Chtml contenteditable style%3D"font-family%3AMonaco%2Cmonospace%2CMenlo%3Bfont-size%3A1rem%3Bbackground%3A%23111 linear-gradient(0deg%2C%23333844%2C%23333844)%3Bcolor%3A%23def%3Bpadding%3A1vh%3Bborder%3A15vw solid %231a1d24%3Bborder-top-width%3A0%3Bborder-bottom-width%3A0%3Bline-height%3A1.5rem%3Bword-break%3Abreak-word%3Bmax-width%3A70vw%3Bbackground-attachment%3Afixed%3Bmin-height%3A98vh%3B"%3E%3Chead%3E%3Ctitle%3EDarkNote%3C%2Ftitle%3E%3C%2Fhead%3E

EDIT: In TenFourKit, the text renders as near-white, per the call-out, but the background is default-white.
 
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eyoungren said:
As a confessed lazy person this means that if I am searching for stuff on the net when writing all I have to do is copy/paste from one browser tab to another. When I'm done I can save a text file. While I can keep TextEdit (or usually Word) up and switch between apps, this is one less app to keep open. Hell, if I detach the tab into it's own window it's right there on a second monitor and I don't switch apps at all.
Click to expand...
This. Also, Textedit quits if you press the red close button similar to the function of most Windows apps. Normally I would prefer that behavior for say FireFox or any other app I use. However with textedit I find I constantly am relaunching it from launchpad because it closes itself if I exit the file.
 
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B S Magnet said:
Perhaps this is old knowledge for some of you, but it is new to me. I figure I could pass it along to everyone here.
By entering the following string in the URL bar of whatever browser you use, you can render the tab/window as a basic, barebones text editor:
Code: 
data:text/html,<html contenteditable>
Click to expand...

That's surprisingly neat. It reminds me of those 1970s TV typewriters that could show text on a standard TV, except that this is more useful.

Imagine if there was a way to transmit text electronically over the internet, so that other people could read it. Or any arbitrary digital data, including pictures. If everybody had text-to-speech on their computer talk radio would be obsolete. Obviously it would be impossible to transmit video because the bandwidth requirements would be far too large, but perhaps tiny little animated pictures of baby elephants falling over, who knows.

One thing I've never liked about TextEdit is that it makes you create a new document before you can write anything, whereas Notepad pops open a new window instantly. In theory it's a trivial difference, but much of my writing comes from spontaneous eruptions of thought that appear in my mind only briefly and I don't like the extra step of clicking "new document".

I mean, if someone makes a mistake on the internet I often pop open Notepad and write out a lengthy, accurate rebuttal and then delete it, whereas with TextEdit I have to commit myself, and I don't like that.
 
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AshleyPomeroy said:
Imagine if there was a way to transmit text electronically over the internet, so that other people could read it. Or any arbitrary digital data, including pictures. If everybody had text-to-speech on their computer talk radio would be obsolete. Obviously it would be impossible to transmit video because the bandwidth requirements would be far too large, but perhaps tiny little animated pictures of baby elephants falling over, who knows.
Click to expand...

Excuse me, but can't you do all that over the internet? What am I missing here?

AshleyPomeroy said:
One thing I've never liked about TextEdit is that it makes you create a new document before you can write anything
Click to expand...

Which is why I use Notes or Sublime Text for spontaneous writing.
 
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