7 ms·

Ymacs -- An Emacs-like editor for the Web

191 points by macco 16y ago

jrockway 16y ago
Incidentally, Emacs 24 removes the dashes from the modeline, so using Ymacs is almost a bit nostalgic!
- sdp 16y ago
  Odd, I'm using "GNU Emacs 24.0.50.1 (x86_64-apple-darwin10.2.0, NS apple-appkit-1038.25) of 2010-03-27 on gallifrey.local" and it still has the dashes on the modeline.
  - jrockway 16y ago
    If you are going to use a prerelease Emacs, you should update it more frequently than every 7 months! (This particular change is from about two weeks ago.)
    - sdp 16y ago
      In my defense: it's a very stable prerelease copy.
charlief 16y ago
Next, web-based vim please!
- w1ntermute 16y ago
  http://gpl.internetconnection.net/vi/ http://gpl.internetconnection.net/vi/
  - charlief 16y ago
    Many keys appear to be trapped in the browser making it impossible to use on Mac Safari. It would be cool if someone worked on a fully-fledged environment, worked out all the issues, and somehow integrated it with an existing infrastructure like Amazon S3 or packaged and distributed a client with a sandbox server side.
  - ElbertF 16y ago
    Nice effort but scrolling with Ctrl+E doesn't work and diw puts me into insert mode and then deletes the entire line. I gave up after about 15 seconds.
roadnottaken 16y ago
Cool, but Ctrl-N (move down) doesn't work (it opens a new page).
- jcsalterego 16y ago
  Maybe it depends on which browser you're using, but in Safari 5, when the main textbox/input box has focus, C-n works for me, as well as ESC for Meta. You may want to try giving it focus first?
  - roadnottaken 16y ago
    Strangely (ironically) Ctrl-N works fine in Safari (on Windows), but Ctrl-P brings up the "Print" dialog. In Chrome Ctrl-P works fine, but Ctrl-N brings up the "New Window" dialog. Both work fine in Firefox. Who said that one of the best things about developing web-apps is that the apps are cross-platform?
    - sjs 16y ago
      Hopefully it's equally broken in different ways on various browsers on OS X and Linux. ;-)
jasonjei 16y ago
The problem is I need an emacs/vim/TextMate style editor for the iPad usable in the airplane. I really wish TextMate would become available on iOS.
- angrycoder 16y ago
  its called a netbook.
  - adamc 16y ago
    Apple doesn't make netbooks. Textmate only runs on Macs.
    - mziulu 16y ago
      But emacs and vim don't.
- sukuriant 16y ago
  And really, do you want to be pressing multiple keys at the same time like you would for emacs hot keys on an iPad? I'm not an avid user, but those motions seem incredibly unnatural. C-X, C-S to save? and that's just the beginning. vim suffers similarly, though probably not to the same extent. An editor that takes advantage of the iPad's touch screen would be superior, imo
  - jasonjei 16y ago
    Not necessarily an emacs editor. I love the GUI of TextMate, but a lot of what makes TextMate usable is its bundles, which definitely won't be allowed by Apple. All I would like is a reasonably good text editor with a project drawer and syntax highlighting. Preferably something that can integrate with git. Maybe I am dreaming. I love just being able to read code, not necessarily type it on the iPad, since I do review existing open source projects (such as picking open gems and learning about them) or review source code changes from git. MBA is nice, but you still need to pull the seat tray down. The iPad lets me read code like a magazine. And it fits on the elliptical for working out. So yes, call me foolish for wanting to do this on the iPad, but I just love its form factor!
grandalf 16y ago
I really wish this were rolled into github.
jeffmiller 16y ago
GitHub should integrate this into their site for editing files.
- rguzman 16y ago
  More generally, this should be bundled into a js plugin like disqus or uservoice. I'd guess it would make sense on a lot of sites.
  - rtp 16y ago
    This should be implemented as a bookmarklet, or more preferably a userscript.
- w1ntermute 16y ago
  As should SO.
- yigit 16y ago
  You can always use Edit with Emacs: https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/ljobjlafonikaiipfkggjbhkghgicgoh https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/ljobjlafonikaiip...
dorkitude 16y ago
this is polished! salesforce should use this for the Apex platform.
- rspraetz 16y ago
  Totally agreed. This would be great for Apex or any other place where you want a web based portal to your cloud based code. Very cool!
mronge 16y ago
Now what I'd really like is the reverse: Webkit in an emacs buffer. That would totally rock I'd never have to leave emacs. I wonder how hard it would be to hack something up like that?
- chrislo 16y ago
  Someone did start working on that: http://github.com/jave/emacs/tree/xembed http://github.com/jave/emacs/tree/xembed I'm not sure what the current status is though.
- bostonvaulter2 16y ago
  Maybe you could hack uzbl into emacs
  - rcfox 16y ago
    That's called ezbl. https://github.com/haxney/ezbl https://github.com/haxney/ezbl (I don't know if that's the best link; it was just the first that came up.)
- docgnome 16y ago
  Closest I've ever come across is Conkeror (http://conkeror.org http://conkeror.org) That's using Gecko instead of WebKit but it's still a great project. It's my primary browser.
JoelMcCracken 16y ago
I tried integrating this into an app I am working on, but it was just too tightly integrated within its custom UI library. This app is truly awesome, but it is just impossible to integrate with anything. Someday I might try to fork it -- lord knows I already know enough about its internals. (edit: sorry about the double post. I wiped the screen of my iphone immediately after hitting submit -- guess this is what happened. Also, it would be awesome if someone made this into a bookmarklet)
- Raphael 16y ago
  Ah, so Ymacs stays true to its roots in being stuck with its own stack.
  - JoelMcCracken 16y ago
    Hah, I wouldn't say you're wrong.
  - kevindication 16y ago
    Much like the Borg, emacs is not integrated into applications - applications are assimilated into emacs. :-) (An 80% emacs user myself.)
deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
agentultra 16y ago
Aw, FF + Vimperator = no go. lol Neat app. I'm a total emacs nut.
- bradly 16y ago
  Control+z will enter Vimperator pass-through mode and the site will work. Just hit escape to exit pass-through.
  - jjs 16y ago
    But escape is Meta! :{
    - bradly 16y ago
      You can map escape to something else in Vimperator.
      - jjs 16y ago
        Give me ^[ or give me :q!
shimon 16y ago
Dear god, If you could combine this with a Google-docs-like collaborative editing feature, I could once again enjoy a life free of word processors, where the true meaning of Meta-Shift-^ could become known to the masses. That would rock. Just sayin'.
- onedognight 16y ago
  Funny you should mention M-^ as that was the first command I tried that wasn't actually implemented, but given that I'm halfway done with its implementation without leaving ymacs, call me impressed.
- drblast 16y ago
  I felt the same way and started making my own editor: http://vianedit.appspot.com http://vianedit.appspot.com Unfortunately I had to make it use vi key-bindings since the emacs ones were incompatible with most browser defaults. But it's extensible like emacs, through Javascript. Someday I'll have time to finish it.
  - tam7t 16y ago
    I see that you and I think alike... http://editmole.com http://editmole.com (also on appspot). I'm lazy so I went with the "notepad" style editor.
alcoholiday 16y ago
Super Dee Duper! I cracked myself up when trying C-M-q using the Command (clover) key on my mac, which of course was seen as CMD-Q by the browser, which for you non OS X folks means QUIT.
- phmongeau 16y ago
  I tried it wondering if it would quit the browser, but it didn't. (I'm using Firefox)
  - boyter 16y ago
    First thing I tired as well using Chrome. A little disappointing but you cant have it all.
pinchyfingers 16y ago
This is something I've wanted to make, I'll be reading through the source to work on my Javascript knowledge. Now I need a Chrome plugin to make every text entry box work like this (Edit With Emacs didn't do it for me last time I tried, I habitually type C-x s and that was closing my buffer and returning to the browser).
- jfm3 16y ago
  You can rebind keys to do different things in Emacs, and make Edit With Emacs behave any way you want.
thecombjelly 16y ago
I worked on this (my own version) for awhile and I got the basics working pretty quickly, but I just wasn't happy writing in JS, I really wanted it to be written in Lisp, but I couldn't find a JS version of Lisp that was good enough, and I didn't have the time to make one myself. I'm glad to see this and I'm sure I'll enjoy using it. It would be nice to have the ability to create accounts and store in the cloud so I can access my code from anywhere.
- neptun 16y ago
  http://common-lisp.net/project/parenscript/ http://common-lisp.net/project/parenscript/ to the rescue!
makuro 16y ago
It would be nice if the code could end up in github. Also, more importantly, I need to disable that cursor blinking (peripheral blinky things make me feel like dying).
wavesplash 16y ago
I'd love for this to work universally but it looks like capturing CTRL-N (line-down) is a wontfix in chrome :( Should we lobby and open a new bug? http://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=33056 http://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=33056
- snissn 16y ago
  works fine for me in chrome stable branch on ubuntu 32bit edit-- no i'm in 6.0.472.14 dev
  - wavesplash 16y ago
    I'm testing on Chrome 9.0.570.0 dev on win7 right now. CTRL-N causes a new window to open. Curious if this is platform specific. Can you switch to dev and let me know what results you get? If different than a new bug is warranted.
    - mtklein 16y ago
      Works fine on the same version on Mac. Of course, ctrl-n normally goes down a line on a Mac.
Wilduck 16y ago
Funny that this doesn't work even a little bit with Conkeror (Web browser with emacs keybindings). Pretty sweet otherwise.
- docgnome 16y ago
  To be fair, that's more a Conkeror problem than a ymacs problem. We're sort of trying to bang the square peg of the web into the round hole of keyboard based control. It often leads to gross hacks like all the page modes we have, which are equivalent to Major modes that you could only use on one or maybe two files in emacs.
- docgnome 16y ago
  Actually, if you use quote mode (enabled by C-M-q by default) it works great!
arnemart 16y ago
My first thought was "Whymacs?" but this is actually pretty cool. Shame I've never gotten around to learning emacs.
mishoo 16y ago
I switched to Git actually for my newer projects. Expect Ymacs at http://github.com/mishoo http://github.com/mishoo sometime next weekend.
sbt 16y ago
Great initiative. Get Ctrl-C Ctrl-E to work and I'll be even more happy :)
trezor 16y ago
It doesn't work too well on non-US keyboards. For instance I can't type @ (Alt-gr/Right-alt 2), $ (Alt-gr 4) or any of the following: {[]} (alt-gr 7-0). Welcome to Norwegian keyboard layout btw. I'm guessing it might the browser blocking what it assumes is control keys, but it might also be the app not looking for those specific modifier-key combinations. Looking at the wikipedia-page for keyboard layouts, it seems Norway is not alone when it comes to requiring modifier-keys to be able to type standard "programming" characters: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keyboard_layout#Norwegian http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keyboard_layout#Norwegian If these things can't be done in browser, I'm guessing all those awesome, envisioned browser & cloud IDEs wont be that big a hit outside english-speaking countries.
- zeugma 16y ago
  It's the same for French AZERTY keyboards. If you are programming, just remap you keyboard to normal QWERTY, that way easier then.

191 points by macco 16y ago

jrockway 16y ago

Incidentally, Emacs 24 removes the dashes from the modeline, so using Ymacs is almost a bit nostalgic!

sdp 16y ago
Odd, I'm using "GNU Emacs 24.0.50.1 (x86_64-apple-darwin10.2.0, NS apple-appkit-1038.25) of 2010-03-27 on gallifrey.local" and it still has the dashes on the modeline.
- jrockway 16y ago
  If you are going to use a prerelease Emacs, you should update it more frequently than every 7 months! (This particular change is from about two weeks ago.)
  - sdp 16y ago
    In my defense: it's a very stable prerelease copy.

charlief 16y ago

Next, web-based vim please!

w1ntermute 16y ago
http://gpl.internetconnection.net/vi/ http://gpl.internetconnection.net/vi/
- charlief 16y ago
  Many keys appear to be trapped in the browser making it impossible to use on Mac Safari. It would be cool if someone worked on a fully-fledged environment, worked out all the issues, and somehow integrated it with an existing infrastructure like Amazon S3 or packaged and distributed a client with a sandbox server side.
- ElbertF 16y ago
  Nice effort but scrolling with Ctrl+E doesn't work and diw puts me into insert mode and then deletes the entire line. I gave up after about 15 seconds.

roadnottaken 16y ago

Cool, but Ctrl-N (move down) doesn't work (it opens a new page).

jcsalterego 16y ago
Maybe it depends on which browser you're using, but in Safari 5, when the main textbox/input box has focus, C-n works for me, as well as ESC for Meta. You may want to try giving it focus first?
- roadnottaken 16y ago
  Strangely (ironically) Ctrl-N works fine in Safari (on Windows), but Ctrl-P brings up the "Print" dialog. In Chrome Ctrl-P works fine, but Ctrl-N brings up the "New Window" dialog. Both work fine in Firefox. Who said that one of the best things about developing web-apps is that the apps are cross-platform?
  - sjs 16y ago
    Hopefully it's equally broken in different ways on various browsers on OS X and Linux. ;-)

jasonjei 16y ago

The problem is I need an emacs/vim/TextMate style editor for the iPad usable in the airplane. I really wish TextMate would become available on iOS.

angrycoder 16y ago
its called a netbook.
- adamc 16y ago
  Apple doesn't make netbooks. Textmate only runs on Macs.
  - mziulu 16y ago
    But emacs and vim don't.
sukuriant 16y ago
And really, do you want to be pressing multiple keys at the same time like you would for emacs hot keys on an iPad? I'm not an avid user, but those motions seem incredibly unnatural. C-X, C-S to save? and that's just the beginning. vim suffers similarly, though probably not to the same extent. An editor that takes advantage of the iPad's touch screen would be superior, imo
- jasonjei 16y ago
  Not necessarily an emacs editor. I love the GUI of TextMate, but a lot of what makes TextMate usable is its bundles, which definitely won't be allowed by Apple. All I would like is a reasonably good text editor with a project drawer and syntax highlighting. Preferably something that can integrate with git. Maybe I am dreaming. I love just being able to read code, not necessarily type it on the iPad, since I do review existing open source projects (such as picking open gems and learning about them) or review source code changes from git. MBA is nice, but you still need to pull the seat tray down. The iPad lets me read code like a magazine. And it fits on the elliptical for working out. So yes, call me foolish for wanting to do this on the iPad, but I just love its form factor!

grandalf 16y ago

I really wish this were rolled into github.

jeffmiller 16y ago

GitHub should integrate this into their site for editing files.

rguzman 16y ago
More generally, this should be bundled into a js plugin like disqus or uservoice. I'd guess it would make sense on a lot of sites.
- rtp 16y ago
  This should be implemented as a bookmarklet, or more preferably a userscript.
w1ntermute 16y ago
As should SO.
yigit 16y ago
You can always use Edit with Emacs: https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/ljobjlafonikaiipfkggjbhkghgicgoh https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/ljobjlafonikaiip...

dorkitude 16y ago

this is polished! salesforce should use this for the Apex platform.

rspraetz 16y ago
Totally agreed. This would be great for Apex or any other place where you want a web based portal to your cloud based code. Very cool!

mronge 16y ago

Now what I'd really like is the reverse: Webkit in an emacs buffer. That would totally rock I'd never have to leave emacs. I wonder how hard it would be to hack something up like that?

chrislo 16y ago
Someone did start working on that: http://github.com/jave/emacs/tree/xembed http://github.com/jave/emacs/tree/xembed I'm not sure what the current status is though.
bostonvaulter2 16y ago
Maybe you could hack uzbl into emacs
- rcfox 16y ago
  That's called ezbl. https://github.com/haxney/ezbl https://github.com/haxney/ezbl (I don't know if that's the best link; it was just the first that came up.)
docgnome 16y ago
Closest I've ever come across is Conkeror (http://conkeror.org http://conkeror.org) That's using Gecko instead of WebKit but it's still a great project. It's my primary browser.

JoelMcCracken 16y ago

I tried integrating this into an app I am working on, but it was just too tightly integrated within its custom UI library. This app is truly awesome, but it is just impossible to integrate with anything. Someday I might try to fork it -- lord knows I already know enough about its internals. (edit: sorry about the double post. I wiped the screen of my iphone immediately after hitting submit -- guess this is what happened. Also, it would be awesome if someone made this into a bookmarklet)

Raphael 16y ago
Ah, so Ymacs stays true to its roots in being stuck with its own stack.
- JoelMcCracken 16y ago
  Hah, I wouldn't say you're wrong.
- kevindication 16y ago
  Much like the Borg, emacs is not integrated into applications - applications are assimilated into emacs. :-) (An 80% emacs user myself.)

deleted 16y ago

[deleted]

agentultra 16y ago

Aw, FF + Vimperator = no go. lol Neat app. I'm a total emacs nut.

bradly 16y ago
Control+z will enter Vimperator pass-through mode and the site will work. Just hit escape to exit pass-through.
- jjs 16y ago
  But escape is Meta! :{
  - bradly 16y ago
    You can map escape to something else in Vimperator.
    - jjs 16y ago
      Give me ^[ or give me :q!

shimon 16y ago

Dear god, If you could combine this with a Google-docs-like collaborative editing feature, I could once again enjoy a life free of word processors, where the true meaning of Meta-Shift-^ could become known to the masses. That would rock. Just sayin'.

onedognight 16y ago
Funny you should mention M-^ as that was the first command I tried that wasn't actually implemented, but given that I'm halfway done with its implementation without leaving ymacs, call me impressed.
drblast 16y ago
I felt the same way and started making my own editor: http://vianedit.appspot.com http://vianedit.appspot.com Unfortunately I had to make it use vi key-bindings since the emacs ones were incompatible with most browser defaults. But it's extensible like emacs, through Javascript. Someday I'll have time to finish it.
- tam7t 16y ago
  I see that you and I think alike... http://editmole.com http://editmole.com (also on appspot). I'm lazy so I went with the "notepad" style editor.

alcoholiday 16y ago

Super Dee Duper! I cracked myself up when trying C-M-q using the Command (clover) key on my mac, which of course was seen as CMD-Q by the browser, which for you non OS X folks means QUIT.

phmongeau 16y ago
I tried it wondering if it would quit the browser, but it didn't. (I'm using Firefox)
- boyter 16y ago
  First thing I tired as well using Chrome. A little disappointing but you cant have it all.

pinchyfingers 16y ago

This is something I've wanted to make, I'll be reading through the source to work on my Javascript knowledge. Now I need a Chrome plugin to make every text entry box work like this (Edit With Emacs didn't do it for me last time I tried, I habitually type C-x s and that was closing my buffer and returning to the browser).

jfm3 16y ago
You can rebind keys to do different things in Emacs, and make Edit With Emacs behave any way you want.

thecombjelly 16y ago

I worked on this (my own version) for awhile and I got the basics working pretty quickly, but I just wasn't happy writing in JS, I really wanted it to be written in Lisp, but I couldn't find a JS version of Lisp that was good enough, and I didn't have the time to make one myself. I'm glad to see this and I'm sure I'll enjoy using it. It would be nice to have the ability to create accounts and store in the cloud so I can access my code from anywhere.

neptun 16y ago
http://common-lisp.net/project/parenscript/ http://common-lisp.net/project/parenscript/ to the rescue!

makuro 16y ago

It would be nice if the code could end up in github. Also, more importantly, I need to disable that cursor blinking (peripheral blinky things make me feel like dying).

wavesplash 16y ago

I'd love for this to work universally but it looks like capturing CTRL-N (line-down) is a wontfix in chrome :( Should we lobby and open a new bug? http://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=33056 http://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=33056

snissn 16y ago
works fine for me in chrome stable branch on ubuntu 32bit edit-- no i'm in 6.0.472.14 dev
- wavesplash 16y ago
  I'm testing on Chrome 9.0.570.0 dev on win7 right now. CTRL-N causes a new window to open. Curious if this is platform specific. Can you switch to dev and let me know what results you get? If different than a new bug is warranted.
  - mtklein 16y ago
    Works fine on the same version on Mac. Of course, ctrl-n normally goes down a line on a Mac.

Wilduck 16y ago

Funny that this doesn't work even a little bit with Conkeror (Web browser with emacs keybindings). Pretty sweet otherwise.

docgnome 16y ago
To be fair, that's more a Conkeror problem than a ymacs problem. We're sort of trying to bang the square peg of the web into the round hole of keyboard based control. It often leads to gross hacks like all the page modes we have, which are equivalent to Major modes that you could only use on one or maybe two files in emacs.
docgnome 16y ago
Actually, if you use quote mode (enabled by C-M-q by default) it works great!

arnemart 16y ago

My first thought was "Whymacs?" but this is actually pretty cool. Shame I've never gotten around to learning emacs.

mishoo 16y ago

I switched to Git actually for my newer projects. Expect Ymacs at http://github.com/mishoo http://github.com/mishoo sometime next weekend.

sbt 16y ago

Great initiative. Get Ctrl-C Ctrl-E to work and I'll be even more happy :)

trezor 16y ago

It doesn't work too well on non-US keyboards. For instance I can't type @ (Alt-gr/Right-alt 2), $ (Alt-gr 4) or any of the following: {[]} (alt-gr 7-0). Welcome to Norwegian keyboard layout btw. I'm guessing it might the browser blocking what it assumes is control keys, but it might also be the app not looking for those specific modifier-key combinations. Looking at the wikipedia-page for keyboard layouts, it seems Norway is not alone when it comes to requiring modifier-keys to be able to type standard "programming" characters: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keyboard_layout#Norwegian http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keyboard_layout#Norwegian If these things can't be done in browser, I'm guessing all those awesome, envisioned browser & cloud IDEs wont be that big a hit outside english-speaking countries.

zeugma 16y ago
It's the same for French AZERTY keyboards. If you are programming, just remap you keyboard to normal QWERTY, that way easier then.