diff --git a/src/common/util/EditorsDiff.js b/src/common/util/EditorsDiff.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9ec5d2b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/common/util/EditorsDiff.js
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+
+import {Diff} from 'diff'
+
+const EditorsDiff = new Diff()
+
+EditorsDiff.equals = function(left, right) {
+  return (
+    left.string == right.string 
+  )
+    
+}
+EditorsDiff.tokenize = function(value) {
+  let tokens = value.split(/([ ]+)|(\n)/)
+  let annotatedTokens = [] 
+  tokens.forEach( token => {
+    if (isSpace(token)) {
+      if (annotatedTokens.length == 0)
+        annotatedTokens.push({string:'', whitespace:[]})
+
+      let last = annotatedTokens[annotatedTokens.length-1]
+      last.whitespace.push(token)
+    }
+    else {
+      annotatedTokens.push({string:token, whitespace:[]})
+    }
+  })
+  console.log(annotatedTokens)
+  return annotatedTokens
+}
+EditorsDiff.join = function (annotatedTokens) {
+  let tokens = []
+  annotatedTokens.forEach(annotatedToken => {
+    tokens.push(annotatedToken.string)
+    annotatedToken.whitespace.forEach(item => {
+      tokens.push(item)
+    })
+  })
+
+  console.log(tokens.join(''))
+  return tokens.join('')
+}
+
+export default EditorsDiff
+
+const isSpace = str => /[ ]+/.test(str)
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/common/util/dubdiff.js b/src/common/util/dubdiff.js
index f94e98e..806d1fc 100644
--- a/src/common/util/dubdiff.js
+++ b/src/common/util/dubdiff.js
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import * as JsDiff from 'diff'
+import EditorsDiff from './EditorsDiff'
 
 
 //!!! this deal with adding and removing spaces could be done more elegantly by 
@@ -9,21 +10,23 @@ import * as JsDiff from 'diff'
 
 //the current mechanism for adding and removing spaces is fragile and broken
 export function plaintextDiff(original, final) {
-    let arrOriginal = plaintextSplit(original)
-    let arrFinal = plaintextSplit(final)
+    //let arrOriginal = plaintextSplit(original)
+    //let arrFinal = plaintextSplit(final)
 
-    let diff = JsDiff.diffArrays(arrOriginal, arrFinal)
-    diff = plaintextRestoreSpaces(diff)
+    let diff = EditorsDiff.diff(original, final)
+    //diff = plaintextRestoreSpaces(diff)
 
     return diff
 }
 
 export function markdownDiff(original, final) {
-    let arrOriginal = plaintextSplit(original)
-    let arrFinal = plaintextSplit(final)
+//    let arrOriginal = plaintextSplit(original)
+//    let arrFinal = plaintextSplit(final)
 
-    let diff = JsDiff.diffArrays(arrOriginal, arrFinal)
-    diff = plaintextRestoreSpaces(diff)
+//    let diff = JsDiff.diffArrays(arrOriginal, arrFinal)
+//    diff = plaintextRestoreSpaces(diff)
+
+    let diff = EditorsDiff.diff(original, final)
     diff = rewriteMarkdownDiff(diff)
 
     return diff  
@@ -40,7 +43,7 @@ export function diffToString(diff) {
         string = value.join('')
 
       return start+string+end
-  }).join(' ')
+  }).join('')
 }
 
 let plaintextSplit = text =>text.split(/[ ]|(\n)/)
diff --git a/test/dubdiffPlaintext.js b/test/dubdiffPlaintext.js
index d8d3333..8fdb1f3 100644
--- a/test/dubdiffPlaintext.js
+++ b/test/dubdiffPlaintext.js
@@ -20,33 +20,33 @@ describe('dubdiff', () => {
     expect(diff(
       'This is a smlb sentence.',
       'This is a simple sentence.'
-    )).to.equal('This is a [-smlb-] {+simple+} sentence.')
+    )).to.equal('This is a [-smlb -]{+simple +}sentence.')
   })
 
   it('diffs consecutive words', ()=>{  
     expect(diff(
       'This is a smlb sentnce with no errors.',
       'This is a simple sentence with no errors.'
-    )).to.equal('This is a [-smlb sentnce-] {+simple sentence+} with no errors.')
+    )).to.equal('This is a [-smlb sentnce-]{+simple sentence+} with no errors.')
   })
 
   it('diffs with word deletion', ()=>{  
     expect(diff(
       'Gonna delete a word.',
       'Gonna delete word.'
-    )).to.equal('Gonna delete [-a-] word.')
+    )).to.equal('Gonna delete [-a -]word.')
   })
   it('diffs with word insertion', ()=>{  
     expect(diff(
-      'Gonna delete word.',
-      'Gonna delete a word.'
-    )).to.equal('Gonna delete {+a+} word.')
+      'Gonna add word.',
+      'Gonna add a word.'
+    )).to.equal('Gonna add {+a +}word.')
   })
   it('diffs accross newline without weird spaces', () => {
     expect(diff(
       'This is a flawed\ncomment',
       'This is a corrected\nitem'
-    )).to.equal('This is a [-flawed-] {+corrected+}\n[-comment-] {+item+}')
+    )).to.equal('This is a [-flawed-]{+corrected+}\n[-comment-]{+item+}')
   })
   it('doesn\'t add spaces after newline', () => {
     expect(diff(