vi editor in JavaScript

July 9, 2008 | 11:36

Tags: #applet #blog #download #editor #javascript #vi

Companies: #internet-connection

If you're a Linux fan wondering how to keep those damn Emacs users from commenting on your blog, you might want to check out a natty little JavaScript applet called jvsi.

Created by Internet Connection (link requires JavaScript) and recently popularised by hacker site Hack a Day, jvsi is a clone of the excellent text-editor vi written in JavaScript.

What jvsi does is turn any text box into a vi window, with rich editing tools at your fingertips. With the power of vi under its hood, jvsi features all the excellent features that you never knew you needed while browsing the web – ed/ex command support, vi-keys, full Unicode support, and more.

If you've never used vi, or its more recent incarnation as Vim (Vi IMproved) which comes bundled with most Unix-alike operating systems – the system of modal editing might take a bit of getting used to. Basically, vi has two modes – insert mode and command mode. When in insert mode, the system operates like a traditional text editor: whatever you type appears on-screen. In command mode, by contrast, the keyboard turns into a powerful editing toolkit: if you want to delete an entire line, as an example, you can do so just by typing “dd”.

The long-running editor wars are far from over, with Emacs fans defending their choice of editor – often described as a promising operating system lacking only a good text editor – to the bitter end. If you're a vi fan, then implementing jvsi on the comments section of your blog is a good way of ensuring only the enlightened are able to post. In keeping with it roots, jvsi is distributed under the GNU General Public Licence.

Are you a vi believer, or an Emacs heretic? Perhaps you think that they're both too complicated for their own good? Share your thoughts over in the forums.
Discuss this in the forums
YouTube logo
MSI MPG Velox 100R Chassis Review

October 14 2021 | 15:04

TOP STORIES

SUGGESTED FOR YOU