🔗 chenglou/pretext: Fast, accurate & comprehensive text measurement & layout

I discovered Pretext, a pure JavaScript/TypeScript library for multiline text measurement and layout. It eliminates the bottleneck of DOM measurements that can cause expensive layout reflows by implementing its own text measurement logic using the browser's font engine. I can quickly measure a paragraph's height without interacting with the DOM by using prepare() and layout().

The library is versatile, allowing rendering to DOM, Canvas, or SVG, and it supports complex use cases such as dynamic layouts and rich-text inline flows. Developers can efficiently control line layouts and manage text statistics, which reduces development time and prevents layout shifts. This library opens up new possibilities for crafting sophisticated UI layouts without the usual CSS constraints.