Lex Editor & AI
Master the rich content editor for creating interactive language lessons.
The Lex Editor is a powerful, block-based content editor built specifically for language education. It goes far beyond a simple text editor -- with interactive game widgets, AI-powered lesson generation, real-time collaboration, and a full suite of media tools, it is the core authoring environment for every lesson on Speakly.PRO.
What You Can Build
The editor is designed so that teachers can create rich, interactive content without any coding knowledge. Here is what it supports:
Rich Text and Layout
- Text formatting with bold, italic, underline, colored highlights, and more
- Headings, lists, blockquotes, collapsible sections, and multi-column layouts
- Tables with resizable columns and in-cell exercises
Media
- Image upload, inline images, and image resizing
- YouTube video embeds, Twitter/social embeds
- Audio files with playback controls and transcript support
Interactive Game Widgets
- Multiple choice (dropdown), fill-in-the-blank, matching pairs, sentence builder
- True/false, ordering/sequencing, essay, and audio response
- Flashcards, memory game, word search, crossword, word scramble, category sort
- Brain break widgets: roulette wheel, drawing board, would-you-rather, breathing timer
AI and Automation
- AI lesson builder that generates complete lessons from a topic and level
- AI autocomplete and Ask AI inline assistant
- AI-powered exercise generation and translation tools
Collaboration and Review
- Real-time co-editing with live cursors via Y.js
- Comments, suggestions, and track-changes workflow
- Teacher annotations (hidden from students)
Presentation and Special Content
- Full-screen presentation mode for live classroom use
- LaTeX equations, emoji picker, @mentions, sticky notes
- Text-to-speech, speech-to-text, and audio recording
- Excalidraw drawing canvas
Plugin Catalog
The editor is built on a modular plugin architecture. Each capability is powered by one or more plugins:
| Category | Plugins |
|---|---|
| Text formatting | Bold, italic, underline, strikethrough, SpecialText highlights, floating toolbar |
| Structure | Headings, lists, blockquotes, collapsible sections, layout columns, page breaks |
| Media | Images, inline images, audio, YouTube, Twitter, auto-embed |
| Tables | Table creation, cell resizer, hover actions, action menu |
| Code | Code blocks with Prism and Shiki syntax highlighting |
| Links | Link insertion, auto-link detection, floating link editor |
| Exercises | AnswerCombo (multiple choice), AnswerInput (fill-in-blank), Exercise blocks |
| Game widgets | Matching, ordering, sentence builder, true/false, flashcard, memory game, word scramble, category sort, word search, crossword |
| Brain breaks | Roulette, drawing board, would-you-rather, breathing timer |
| AI | Ask AI assistant, autocomplete, lesson builder, translate |
| Collaboration | Y.js collaboration, comments, suggestions, annotations |
| Special | Equations (KaTeX), emoji, mentions, date/time, sticky notes, Excalidraw, polls |
| Speech | Text-to-speech, speech-to-text, speech recorder |
| Editing | Drag-and-drop, slash commands, keyboard shortcuts, find/replace, undo/redo |
How This Section Is Organized
Each page in this section covers a specific area of the editor:
- Getting Started -- Editor interface, toolbar, keyboard shortcuts, and saving
- Text Formatting -- Bold, italic, SpecialText, floating toolbar
- Blocks and Layout -- Headings, lists, collapsible sections, columns
- Media -- Images, audio, video, embeds
- Tables -- Creating and managing data tables
- Code Blocks -- Syntax-highlighted code snippets
- Links -- Hyperlinks and auto-link detection
- Game Widgets -- All 18+ interactive exercise and game types
- AI Features -- AI lesson builder, autocomplete, exercise generation
- Collaboration -- Real-time co-editing with Y.js
- Annotations and Comments -- Comments, suggestions, track changes
- Presentation Mode -- Full-screen classroom presentation
- Speech and Audio -- TTS, speech recognition, audio recording
- Drawing and Diagrams -- Excalidraw canvas integration
- Special Content -- Equations, emojis, mentions, sticky notes
- Widget Markdown Syntax -- The DSL syntax reference for widgets
- Editor Modes -- Teacher editing vs student interaction mode
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to know any code to use the editor?
No. The editor is fully visual. You type, drag, click, and configure widgets through the toolbar and menus. The underlying widget markdown syntax is handled automatically.
Can students edit the lesson content?
No. Students interact with exercises and widgets (submitting answers, dragging items, recording audio) but cannot modify the lesson text or structure. See Editor Modes for details.
How do I insert an exercise into my lesson?
Type / anywhere in the editor to open the slash command menu, then search for the exercise type you want (e.g., /matching, /truefalse, /essay). You can also use the Insert menu in the toolbar.
Is my work saved automatically?
Yes. The editor auto-saves every 30 seconds. You will see a "Saved" indicator in the status bar. You can also press Ctrl/Cmd + S to save manually at any time.
Can I collaborate with other teachers on the same lesson?
Yes. The editor supports real-time collaboration. Multiple teachers can edit the same lesson simultaneously with live cursors and automatic conflict resolution. See Collaboration.