Hi all,Finding a good data structure for a word processor is a difficult problem. My notebook diaries on the problem go back 25 years when I was frustrated with using Word for my diploma thesis - it was slow and unstable at that time. I ended up getting pretty hooked on the problem.Right now I’m taking a professional break and decided to finally use the time to push these ideas further, and build MiniWord — a WYSIWYG word processor in Python.My goal is to have a native, non-HTML-based editor that stays simple, fast, and is hackable. So far I am focusing on getting the fundamentals right. What is working yet is:- Real WYSIWYG editing (no HTML layer, no embedded browser) with styles, images and tables.- Clean, simple file format (human-readable, diff-friendly, git-friendly, AI-friendly)- Markdown support- Support for Python-pluginsThings that I found:- B-tree structures are perfect for holding rich text data- A simple text-based file format is incredibly useful — you can diff documents, version them, and even process them with AI tools quite naturallyWhat I’d love feedback on:- Where do you see real use cases for something like this?- What would be missing for you to take it seriously as a tool or platform?- What kinds of plugins or extensions would actually be worth building?Happy about any thoughts — positive or critical.GreetingsComments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47722011Points: 6# Comments: 1