Life & fun · alternatives · 2026
24 alternatives to WideArea – an expandable textarea
Create expandable textarea and write large amount of text easily
WideArea is a lightweight JavaScript and CSS library that transforms standard textareas into expandable text input fields. Designed for users who need to write large amounts of text comfortably, it requires minimal… Below are 24 products that do a similar job, ranked by how close each is in meaning and then by launch-day votes. WideArea – an expandable textarea launched in 2013; newer entries below may have overtaken it.
- 1OA
Hi HN! I got so frustrated with modern WYSIWYG editors that I started to play around with building my own. The problem I had was simple: I wanted a low-tech way to type styled text, but I didn't want to load a complex 500KB library, especially if I was going to initialize it dozens of times on the same page. Markdown in a plain was the best alternative to a full WYSIWYG, but its main drawback is how ugly it looks without any formatting. I can handle it, but my clients certainly can't. I went down the ContentEditable rabbit hole for a few years, but always came to realize others had solved it…
2025 · its alternatives →
- 2
1kB-ish JavaScript framework for building hypertext applications - hyperapp/hyperapp
2017 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 3
Inspired by the design and UI/UX of apps like Notion, and utility of open-source apps like StackEdit, I decided to create a minimalistic, local-only WYSIWYG Markdown editor. Some features worth highlighting: - Monaco editor and Prettier integration for code snippets - Tables (apparently the holy grail of WYSIWYG editing) - Embeds (for CodePen, CodeSandbox and YouTube, most useful for HTML or JSON exports) - Accepts Markdown paste-in, and "exports"/generates HTML, Markdown and JSON outputs - Collaboration (with real-time awareness and initial commenting system, available only when…
2023 · editor.vrite.io · its alternatives →
- 4
1kB-ish JavaScript framework for building hypertext applications - hyperapp/hyperapp
2017 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 5
1kB-ish JavaScript framework for building hypertext applications - hyperapp/hyperapp
2018 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 6BJ
2013 · jakiestfu.github.com · its alternatives →
- 7
1kB-ish JavaScript framework for building hypertext applications - hyperapp/hyperapp
2017 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 8
Kraa 1.0▲359Hi HN! Excited to share the public beta of Kraa – a web-based markdown editor. It's aiming to be distraction-free and has strong separation of the document's styling from the experience of writing it — while still alowing for rich customization. Example of a leaf with custom styles: https://kraa.io/kraa/examples/echolibrary Curious about your feedback in hopes of improving Kraa before the planned launch later this year.
Dec 2025 · kraa.io · its alternatives →
- 9
Writing is a lightweight distraction-free text editor, in the browser (Markdown and LaTeX supported). - josephernest/writing
2017 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 10PT
2024 · adamgrant.info · its alternatives →
- 11
lit▲265World's smallest responsive CSS framework (398 bytes!)
2018 · ajusa.github.io · its alternatives →
- 12
LoadFast▲94A text Expander for Mac - type 3 keys, expand 300 words
Dec 2025 · loadfast.store · its alternatives →
- 13
A beautiful modern WYSIWYG HTML text editor
2016 · froala.com · its alternatives →
- 14
Squire▲123The <textarea> of the future. A HTML5 rich text editor.
2014 · neilj.github.io · its alternatives →
- 15ZJ
2020 · bennettfeely.com · its alternatives →
- 16
1kB-ish JavaScript framework for building hypertext applications - hyperapp/hyperapp
2017 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 17
:umbrella: Lightweight javascript library for DOM manipulation and events
2018 · umbrellajs.com · its alternatives →
- 18
Blotter.js▲243A JavaScript API for unconventional text effects on the web.
2018 · blotter.js.org · its alternatives →
- 19
Text editor that generates static HTML files with many ready-to-add components.
2022 · triplelog.com · its alternatives →
- 20
Linguix Turbo▲181Create clever text expansions to speed up your writing
2023 · turbo.linguix.com · its alternatives →
- 21AS
A beautiful CSS framework in under 2 KiB
2013 · andhart.github.io · its alternatives →
- 22
1kB-ish JavaScript framework for building hypertext applications - hyperapp/hyperapp
2017 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 23SV
Ryan Tsao's personal website and blog
2016 · ryantsao.com · its alternatives →
- 24BB
I built a web-based app for building websites. The main unique features are: 1. The ability to copy and paste any HTML and CSS into the editor with no limits. I was never able to find another app that could do this without some form of limitation. 2. CSS filtering, which means you can click on an element to view and edit the CSS selectors and rules that apply to that element alone. In many cases I've found CSS naming conventions like BEM to become irritating at certain scales, so this is an alternative solution. This part of the app needs some more development work but the concept is there.…
2024 · demo.gocodestudio.com · its alternatives →
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- An open-source, collaborative, WYSIWYG Markdown editor alternatives
- 1 KB JavaScript framework for building front-end applications alternatives
- HyperApp – 1k JavaScript framework for building web applications alternatives
- Behave.js – Coding Behaviors for textarea elements alternatives
Ranked by how close each launch is in meaning, then by votes. Prices were read from each product’s own site when checked and can change. Refine with your own description →