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I'm a big fan of It's All Text for Firefox, as it's really helpful to be able to quickly open up gvim and write out code, wiki markup, etc in a powerful editor rather than trying to do edits in a large text box. Is there a similar plugin for Chrome? I'm looking for a cross-platform solution, or at least something that will work on Linux.

Jeff
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7 Answers7

50

On macs:

  • http://www.hogbaysoftware.com/products/quickcursor (product abandoned and removed)

On Windows:

Other platforms:

from https://github.com/stsquad/emacs_chrome/blob/master/servers/README

Because the Chrome(ium) security model doesn't allow for extensions spawning processes we can't just exec() the editor process. Instead we have to implement an "edit server" which listens to XmlHttp requests on port 9292 (default) and then sends a response when the edit is complete. We include a couple here:

Both of these require you run a webserver too, (e.g. http://opencoder.net/edit-server):

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dting
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Have a look at GhostText. (Full disclosure: I worked on it)

It's made of two parts: browser extension (Chrome/Firefox/Safari/all) and text editor plugin (SublimeText/VS Code/Atom/Vim/Neovim/etc).

It updates the text as you type it, so if the site offers a live preview (like on StackExchange) that'll keep working (unlike with It's All Text)

This also works with complex editors like CodeMirror, ACE editor and contentEditable elements (plain HTML)

Demo:

GhostText Video

fregante
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Some possibilities are listed below. It would be easier if you told us what is your operating system.

Edit with Emacs Chrome extension (extension no longer available)

It's Chrome's answer to Firefox's "It's all text" extension, which makes composing emails, blog posts, and other long-form text in a browser a lot more tolerable. (Hooray!)

Since Chrome extensions can't spawn arbitrary processes, the Edit with Emacs extension requires the cooperation of an additional edit server that can. The edit server is implemented in elisp and is bundled with the extension.

TextareaConnect

TextareaConnect a clone of the "It's All Text!" Firefox extension for Chrome. It allows you to edit any textarea using an external editor like Vim, Emacs, gedit, Kate etc. Since Chrome API won't allow spawning new external processes, TextareaConnect relies on separate http-server, TextareaServer, for starting the external editors.

[EDIT] According to its web page, TextAreaConnect is currently not usable because of incompatible updates to Chrome

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harrymc
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Text editor anywhere is really neat if you are using Windows.

Text Editor Anywhere allows you to edit text anywhere with your favorite text editor. It provides a means of taking advantages of some advanced features (like auto-completing, spell checking and syntax highlighting) that are only available in an external text editor. It may also save you from web browser crashes.

For example, you can use Vim to tweet or reply a post in Chrome with the help of Text Editor Anywhere.

  • Support all kinds of text editors
  • Support all applications
  • Support Unicode
  • You can pass complex parameters to the editor
fjut
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I found this via google, and took the time to register so you don't have to :)

http://www.chromeplugins.org/google/chrome-tips-tricks/edit-text-your-favorite-text-editor-chrome-9876.html

The hidden link is this program called listary, which seems very useful (I'm gonna try it right after this post). It works with windows explorer, it's not a chrome plugin. Basically you can pop up a sort of command prompt in the corner at any time, run a program or open a folder or whatever, and then go back to what you were doing. They show someone editing text in their favorite editor and having it go straight to an email in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDHXhm7YSw8&feature=player_detailpage#t=48s

The app page is here: http://www.listary.com/

CreeDorofl
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I've written a simple userscript (which run cross browser/platform) that takes advantage of CodeMirror's excellent Vim/Emacs functionality and allows you to change any textarea into a mini version of Vim or Emacs by double clicking on the textarea.

Note that when I say mini, the Vim version supports things like macros and registers, which is crazy!

Gilles Quénot
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BenjaminRH
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If you don't care about actually opening a separate editor, and like a vim-like editor, (wasavi)[http://appsweets.net/wasavi/] is a good option.

jpbochi
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