diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index aabfa24..a3b3c11 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -2106,6 +2106,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "anyhow",
  "funnylog",
  "ming",
+ "widestring",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
@@ -3916,6 +3917,12 @@ version = "0.1.8"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "53a85b86a771b1c87058196170769dd264f66c0782acf1ae6cc51bfd64b39082"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "widestring"
+version = "1.1.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "7219d36b6eac893fa81e84ebe06485e7dcbb616177469b142df14f1f4deb1311"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "winapi"
 version = "0.3.9"
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 64fea0e..058ebf6 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ edition.workspace = true
 funnylog.workspace = true
 ming.workspace = true
 anyhow.workspace = true
+widestring = "1.1.0"
 
 [workspace]
 members = [
diff --git a/crates/ming/src/shared_string.rs b/crates/ming/src/shared_string.rs
index 1aa1bca..3801276 100644
--- a/crates/ming/src/shared_string.rs
+++ b/crates/ming/src/shared_string.rs
@@ -8,6 +8,23 @@ use util::arc_cow::ArcCow;
 #[derive(Deref, DerefMut, Eq, PartialEq, PartialOrd, Ord, Hash, Clone)]
 pub struct SharedString(ArcCow<'static, str>);
 
+impl SharedString {
+    /// Create a new shared string from anything that can be turned into an [`ArcCow`], including:
+    /// - `&'static `[`str`]
+    /// - [`String`]
+    /// - [`Arc`]`<`[`str`]`>`
+    /// - a reference to any of the above
+    pub fn new(ac: impl Into<ArcCow<'static, str>>) -> Self {
+        Self(ac.into())
+    }
+
+    /// Create a new shared string from a `&'static `[`str`].
+    /// This is a const method so you could store this inside a `const`.
+    pub const fn from_static(str: &'static str) -> Self {
+        Self(ArcCow::Borrowed(str))
+    }
+}
+
 impl Default for SharedString {
     fn default() -> Self {
         Self(ArcCow::Owned("".into()))
diff --git a/src/buffer.rs b/src/buffer.rs
index 85754f4..25a4b09 100644
--- a/src/buffer.rs
+++ b/src/buffer.rs
@@ -1,10 +1,12 @@
-use std::path::PathBuf;
+use std::{ops::Range, path::PathBuf};
+use widestring::Utf16String;
 
 use super::*;
 
 pub struct Buffer {
-    text: String,
-    path: Option<PathBuf>,
+    pub text: Utf16String,
+    pub path: Option<PathBuf>,
+    pub marked: Option<Range<usize>>
 }
 
 impl Buffer {
@@ -21,7 +23,7 @@ impl Buffer {
 
     pub fn scratch() -> Self {
         Self {
-            text: String::new(),
+            text: Utf16String::new(),
             path: None,
         }
     }
diff --git a/src/editor.rs b/src/editor.rs
index 8cc3271..94bc8c1 100644
--- a/src/editor.rs
+++ b/src/editor.rs
@@ -5,13 +5,13 @@ mod input;
 
 pub struct Editor {
     focus_handle: FocusHandle,
-    buffer: Model<crate::buffer::Buffer>
+    buf: Model<crate::buffer::Buffer>
 }
 
 impl Editor {
     pub fn make<V: 'static>(cx: &mut ViewContext<V>) -> View<Self> {
         cx.new_view(|cx| Self {
-            buffer: crate::buffer::Buffer::make_scratch(cx),
+            buf: crate::buffer::Buffer::make_scratch(cx),
             focus_handle: cx.focus_handle()
         })
     }
diff --git a/src/editor/element.rs b/src/editor/element.rs
index 4c3f7fb..be14899 100644
--- a/src/editor/element.rs
+++ b/src/editor/element.rs
@@ -1,13 +1,29 @@
 use super::*;
 
+pub struct EditorStyle {
+    pub font_family: SharedString,
+    pub font_size: AbsoluteLength,
+}
+
+impl Default for EditorStyle {
+    fn default() -> Self {
+        Self {
+            font_family: SharedString::from_static("Monospace"),
+            font_size: AbsoluteLength::Pixels(px(14)),
+        }
+    }
+}
+
 pub struct EditorElement {
     editor: View<Editor>,
+    style: EditorStyle,
 }
 
 impl EditorElement {
     pub fn new(viewref: &View<Editor>) -> Self {
         Self {
             editor: viewref.clone(),
+            style: EditorStyle::default(),
         }
     }
 }
@@ -26,6 +42,17 @@ impl Element for EditorElement {
     type RequestLayoutState = ();
     type PrepaintState = EditorLayout;
 
+    fn id(&self) -> Option<ElementId> {
+        None
+    }
+
+    fn request_layout(
+        &mut self,
+        id: Option<&GlobalElementId>,
+        cx: &mut WindowContext,
+    ) -> (LayoutId, Self::RequestLayoutState) {
+    }
+
     fn prepaint(
         &mut self,
         id: Option<&GlobalElementId>,
@@ -52,5 +79,16 @@ impl Element for EditorElement {
             &focus_handle,
             ElementInputHandler::new(bounds, self.editor.clone()),
         );
+
+        cx.with_text_style(
+            Some(TextStyleRefinement {
+                font_size: Some(self.style.font_size),
+                font_family: Some(self.style.font_family),
+                ..Default::default()
+            }),
+            |cx| {
+                todo!("draw text??")
+            },
+        );
     }
 }
diff --git a/src/editor/input.rs b/src/editor/input.rs
index 085f3c2..ff03707 100644
--- a/src/editor/input.rs
+++ b/src/editor/input.rs
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+use widestring::Utf16Str;
+
 use super::*;
 
 impl Editor {
@@ -10,4 +12,46 @@ impl Editor {
     }
 }
 
-impl ViewInputHandler for Editor {}
+impl ViewInputHandler for Editor {
+    fn text_for_range(
+        &mut self,
+        range: std::ops::Range<usize>,
+        cx: &mut ViewContext<Self>,
+    ) -> Option<String> {
+        self.buf
+            .read(cx)
+            .text
+            .get(range)
+            .map(|slice| slice.to_string())
+    }
+
+    fn unmark_text(&mut self, cx: &mut ViewContext<Self>) {
+        self.buf.update(cx, |buf, cx| {
+            buf.marked = None;
+        })
+    }
+
+    fn marked_text_range(&self, cx: &mut ViewContext<Self>) -> Option<std::ops::Range<usize>> {
+        self.buf.read(cx).marked.clone()
+    }
+
+    fn bounds_for_range(
+        &mut self,
+        range_utf16: std::ops::Range<usize>,
+        element_bounds: Bounds<Pixels>,
+        cx: &mut ViewContext<Self>,
+    ) -> Option<Bounds<Pixels>> {
+    }
+
+    fn replace_and_mark_text_in_range(
+        &mut self,
+        range: Option<std::ops::Range<usize>>,
+        new_text: &str,
+        new_selected_range: Option<std::ops::Range<usize>>,
+        cx: &mut ViewContext<Self>,
+    ) {
+        self.buf.update(cx, |buf, cx| {
+            buf.marked = new_selected_range;
+        })
+    }
+}