diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 85b68f659b..192cefdf3a 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -26,10 +26,9 @@
   "dependencies": {
     "browser-request": "^0.3.3",
     "classnames": "^2.1.2",
-    "draft-js": "^0.7.0",
-    "draft-js-export-html": "^0.2.2",
+    "draft-js": "^0.8.1",
+    "draft-js-export-html": "^0.4.0",
     "draft-js-export-markdown": "^0.2.0",
-    "draft-js-import-markdown": "^0.1.6",
     "emojione": "2.2.3",
     "favico.js": "^0.3.10",
     "filesize": "^3.1.2",
diff --git a/src/RichText.js b/src/RichText.js
index 7cd78a14c9..31d82ee349 100644
--- a/src/RichText.js
+++ b/src/RichText.js
@@ -14,64 +14,22 @@ import {
 } from 'draft-js';
 import * as sdk from  './index';
 import * as emojione from 'emojione';
-
-const BLOCK_RENDER_MAP = DefaultDraftBlockRenderMap.set('unstyled', {
-    element: 'span',
-    /*
-     draft uses <div> by default which we don't really like, so we're using <span>
-     this is probably not a good idea since <span> is not a block level element but
-     we're trying to fix things in contentStateToHTML below
-     */
-});
-
-const STYLES = {
-    BOLD: 'strong',
-    CODE: 'code',
-    ITALIC: 'em',
-    STRIKETHROUGH: 's',
-    UNDERLINE: 'u',
-};
+import {stateToHTML} from 'draft-js-export-html';
 
 const MARKDOWN_REGEX = {
     LINK: /(?:\[([^\]]+)\]\(([^\)]+)\))|\<(\w+:\/\/[^\>]+)\>/g,
     ITALIC: /([\*_])([\w\s]+?)\1/g,
     BOLD: /([\*_])\1([\w\s]+?)\1\1/g,
+    HR: /(\n|^)((-|\*|_) *){3,}(\n|$)/g,
+    CODE: /`[^`]*`/g,
+    STRIKETHROUGH: /~{2}[^~]*~{2}/g,
 };
 
 const USERNAME_REGEX = /@\S+:\S+/g;
 const ROOM_REGEX = /#\S+:\S+/g;
 const EMOJI_REGEX = new RegExp(emojione.unicodeRegexp, 'g');
 
-export function contentStateToHTML(contentState: ContentState): string {
-    return contentState.getBlockMap().map((block) => {
-        let elem = BLOCK_RENDER_MAP.get(block.getType()).element;
-        let content = [];
-        block.findStyleRanges(
-            () => true, // always return true => don't filter any ranges out
-            (start, end) => {
-                // map style names to elements
-                let tags = block.getInlineStyleAt(start).map(style => STYLES[style]).filter(style => !!style);
-                // combine them to get well-nested HTML
-                let open = tags.map(tag => `<${tag}>`).join('');
-                let close = tags.map(tag => `</${tag}>`).reverse().join('');
-                // and get the HTML representation of this styled range (this .substring() should never fail)
-                let text = block.getText().substring(start, end);
-                // http://shebang.brandonmintern.com/foolproof-html-escaping-in-javascript/
-                let div = document.createElement('div');
-                div.appendChild(document.createTextNode(text));
-                let safeText = div.innerHTML;
-                content.push(`${open}${safeText}${close}`);
-            }
-        );
-
-        let result = `<${elem}>${content.join('')}</${elem}>`;
-
-        // dirty hack because we don't want block level tags by default, but breaks
-        if (elem === 'span')
-            result += '<br />';
-        return result;
-    }).join('');
-}
+export const contentStateToHTML = stateToHTML;
 
 export function HTMLtoContentState(html: string): ContentState {
     return ContentState.createFromBlockArray(convertFromHTML(html));
@@ -98,6 +56,19 @@ function unicodeToEmojiUri(str) {
     return str;
 }
 
+/**
+ * Utility function that looks for regex matches within a ContentBlock and invokes {callback} with (start, end)
+ * From https://facebook.github.io/draft-js/docs/advanced-topics-decorators.html
+ */
+function findWithRegex(regex, contentBlock: ContentBlock, callback: (start: number, end: number) => any) {
+    const text = contentBlock.getText();
+    let matchArr, start;
+    while ((matchArr = regex.exec(text)) !== null) {
+        start = matchArr.index;
+        callback(start, start + matchArr[0].length);
+    }
+}
+
 // Workaround for https://github.com/facebook/draft-js/issues/414
 let emojiDecorator = {
     strategy: (contentBlock, callback) => {
@@ -151,7 +122,7 @@ export function getScopedRTDecorators(scope: any): CompositeDecorator {
 }
 
 export function getScopedMDDecorators(scope: any): CompositeDecorator {
-    let markdownDecorators = ['BOLD', 'ITALIC'].map(
+    let markdownDecorators = ['HR', 'BOLD', 'ITALIC', 'CODE', 'STRIKETHROUGH'].map(
         (style) => ({
             strategy: (contentBlock, callback) => {
                 return findWithRegex(MARKDOWN_REGEX[style], contentBlock, callback);
@@ -178,19 +149,6 @@ export function getScopedMDDecorators(scope: any): CompositeDecorator {
     return markdownDecorators;
 }
 
-/**
- * Utility function that looks for regex matches within a ContentBlock and invokes {callback} with (start, end)
- * From https://facebook.github.io/draft-js/docs/advanced-topics-decorators.html
- */
-function findWithRegex(regex, contentBlock: ContentBlock, callback: (start: number, end: number) => any) {
-    const text = contentBlock.getText();
-    let matchArr, start;
-    while ((matchArr = regex.exec(text)) !== null) {
-        start = matchArr.index;
-        callback(start, start + matchArr[0].length);
-    }
-}
-
 /**
  * Passes rangeToReplace to modifyFn and replaces it in contentState with the result.
  */
diff --git a/src/UserSettingsStore.js b/src/UserSettingsStore.js
index f4eb4f0d83..3e0c7127c1 100644
--- a/src/UserSettingsStore.js
+++ b/src/UserSettingsStore.js
@@ -130,9 +130,9 @@ module.exports = {
         return event ? event.getContent() : {};
     },
 
-    getSyncedSetting: function(type) {
+    getSyncedSetting: function(type, defaultValue = null) {
         var settings = this.getSyncedSettings();
-        return settings[type];
+        return settings.hasOwnProperty(type) ? settings[type] : null;
     },
 
     setSyncedSetting: function(type, value) {
diff --git a/src/components/views/rooms/Autocomplete.js b/src/components/views/rooms/Autocomplete.js
index 4b2e23a8b8..9b8b55ab51 100644
--- a/src/components/views/rooms/Autocomplete.js
+++ b/src/components/views/rooms/Autocomplete.js
@@ -149,13 +149,13 @@ export default class Autocomplete extends React.Component {
                     {completionResult.provider.renderCompletions(completions)}
                 </div>
             ) : null;
-        });
+        }).filter(completion => !!completion);
 
-        return (
+        return renderedCompletions.length > 0 ? (
             <div className="mx_Autocomplete" ref={(e) => this.container = e}>
                 {renderedCompletions}
             </div>
-        );
+        ) : null;
     }
 }
 
diff --git a/src/components/views/rooms/MessageComposer.js b/src/components/views/rooms/MessageComposer.js
index 7b84d394e0..fc80bf8a90 100644
--- a/src/components/views/rooms/MessageComposer.js
+++ b/src/components/views/rooms/MessageComposer.js
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ var Modal = require('../../../Modal');
 var sdk = require('../../../index');
 var dis = require('../../../dispatcher');
 import Autocomplete from './Autocomplete';
+import classNames from 'classnames';
 
 import UserSettingsStore from '../../../UserSettingsStore';
 
@@ -38,10 +39,20 @@ export default class MessageComposer extends React.Component {
         this.onDownArrow = this.onDownArrow.bind(this);
         this._tryComplete = this._tryComplete.bind(this);
         this._onAutocompleteConfirm = this._onAutocompleteConfirm.bind(this);
+        this.onToggleFormattingClicked = this.onToggleFormattingClicked.bind(this);
+        this.onToggleMarkdownClicked = this.onToggleMarkdownClicked.bind(this);
+        this.onInputStateChanged = this.onInputStateChanged.bind(this);
 
         this.state = {
             autocompleteQuery: '',
             selection: null,
+            inputState: {
+                style: [],
+                blockType: null,
+                isRichtextEnabled: UserSettingsStore.getSyncedSetting('MessageComposerInput.isRichTextEnabled', true),
+                wordCount: 0,
+            },
+            showFormatting: UserSettingsStore.getSyncedSetting('MessageComposer.showFormatting', false),
         };
 
     }
@@ -134,6 +145,10 @@ export default class MessageComposer extends React.Component {
         });
     }
 
+    onInputStateChanged(inputState) {
+        this.setState({inputState});
+    }
+
     onUpArrow() {
        return this.refs.autocomplete.onUpArrow();
     }
@@ -155,6 +170,21 @@ export default class MessageComposer extends React.Component {
         }
     }
 
+    onFormatButtonClicked(name: "bold" | "italic" | "strike" | "code" | "underline" | "quote" | "bullet" | "numbullet", event) {
+        event.preventDefault();
+        this.messageComposerInput.onFormatButtonClicked(name, event);
+    }
+
+    onToggleFormattingClicked() {
+        UserSettingsStore.setSyncedSetting('MessageComposer.showFormatting', !this.state.showFormatting);
+        this.setState({showFormatting: !this.state.showFormatting});
+    }
+
+    onToggleMarkdownClicked(e) {
+        e.preventDefault(); // don't steal focus from the editor!
+        this.messageComposerInput.enableRichtext(!this.state.inputState.isRichtextEnabled);
+    }
+
     render() {
         var me = this.props.room.getMember(MatrixClientPeg.get().credentials.userId);
         var uploadInputStyle = {display: 'none'};
@@ -207,6 +237,16 @@ export default class MessageComposer extends React.Component {
                 </div>
             );
 
+            const formattingButton = (
+                <img className="mx_MessageComposer_formatting"
+                     title="Show Text Formatting Toolbar"
+                     src="img/button-text-formatting.svg"
+                     onClick={this.onToggleFormattingClicked}
+                     style={{visibility: this.state.showFormatting ||
+                       !UserSettingsStore.isFeatureEnabled('rich_text_editor') ? 'hidden' : 'visible'}}
+                     key="controls_formatting" />
+            );
+
             controls.push(
                 <MessageComposerInput
                     ref={c => this.messageComposerInput = c}
@@ -217,7 +257,9 @@ export default class MessageComposer extends React.Component {
                     onUpArrow={this.onUpArrow}
                     onDownArrow={this.onDownArrow}
                     tabComplete={this.props.tabComplete} // used for old messagecomposerinput/tabcomplete
-                    onContentChanged={this.onInputContentChanged} />,
+                    onContentChanged={this.onInputContentChanged}
+                    onInputStateChanged={this.onInputStateChanged} />,
+                formattingButton,
                 uploadButton,
                 hangupButton,
                 callButton,
@@ -242,6 +284,26 @@ export default class MessageComposer extends React.Component {
             </div>;
         }
 
+
+        const {style, blockType} = this.state.inputState;
+        const formatButtons = ["bold", "italic", "strike", "underline", "code", "quote", "bullet", "numbullet"].map(
+            name => {
+                const active = style.includes(name) || blockType === name;
+                const suffix = active ? '-o-n' : '';
+                const onFormatButtonClicked = this.onFormatButtonClicked.bind(this, name);
+                const disabled = !this.state.inputState.isRichtextEnabled && 'underline' === name;
+                const className = classNames("mx_MessageComposer_format_button", {
+                    mx_MessageComposer_format_button_disabled: disabled,
+                });
+                return <img className={className}
+                            title={name}
+                            onMouseDown={disabled ? null : onFormatButtonClicked}
+                            key={name}
+                            src={`img/button-text-${name}${suffix}.svg`}
+                            height="17" />;
+            },
+        );
+
         return (
             <div className="mx_MessageComposer mx_fadable" style={{ opacity: this.props.opacity }}>
                 {autoComplete}
@@ -250,6 +312,22 @@ export default class MessageComposer extends React.Component {
                         {controls}
                     </div>
                 </div>
+                {UserSettingsStore.isFeatureEnabled('rich_text_editor') ?
+                    <div className="mx_MessageComposer_formatbar_wrapper">
+                        <div className="mx_MessageComposer_formatbar" style={this.state.showFormatting ? {} : {display: 'none'}}>
+                            {formatButtons}
+                            <div style={{flex: 1}}></div>
+                            <img title={`Turn Markdown ${this.state.inputState.isRichtextEnabled ? 'on' : 'off'}`}
+                                 onMouseDown={this.onToggleMarkdownClicked}
+                                className="mx_MessageComposer_formatbar_markdown"
+                                src={`img/button-md-${!this.state.inputState.isRichtextEnabled}.png`} />
+                            <img title="Hide Text Formatting Toolbar"
+                                 onClick={this.onToggleFormattingClicked}
+                                 className="mx_MessageComposer_formatbar_cancel"
+                                 src="img/icon-text-cancel.svg" />
+                        </div>
+                    </div>: null
+                }
             </div>
         );
     }
diff --git a/src/components/views/rooms/MessageComposerInput.js b/src/components/views/rooms/MessageComposerInput.js
index 2d42b65246..1f5b303fe0 100644
--- a/src/components/views/rooms/MessageComposerInput.js
+++ b/src/components/views/rooms/MessageComposerInput.js
@@ -29,9 +29,11 @@ marked.setOptions({
 
 import {Editor, EditorState, RichUtils, CompositeDecorator,
     convertFromRaw, convertToRaw, Modifier, EditorChangeType,
-    getDefaultKeyBinding, KeyBindingUtil, ContentState} from 'draft-js';
+    getDefaultKeyBinding, KeyBindingUtil, ContentState, ContentBlock, SelectionState} from 'draft-js';
 
 import {stateToMarkdown} from 'draft-js-export-markdown';
+import classNames from 'classnames';
+import escape from 'lodash/escape';
 
 import MatrixClientPeg from '../../../MatrixClientPeg';
 import type {MatrixClient} from 'matrix-js-sdk/lib/matrix';
@@ -41,6 +43,7 @@ import sdk from '../../../index';
 
 import dis from '../../../dispatcher';
 import KeyCode from '../../../KeyCode';
+import UserSettingsStore from '../../../UserSettingsStore';
 
 import * as RichText from '../../../RichText';
 
@@ -80,7 +83,6 @@ export default class MessageComposerInput extends React.Component {
     constructor(props, context) {
         super(props, context);
         this.onAction = this.onAction.bind(this);
-        this.onInputClick = this.onInputClick.bind(this);
         this.handleReturn = this.handleReturn.bind(this);
         this.handleKeyCommand = this.handleKeyCommand.bind(this);
         this.setEditorState = this.setEditorState.bind(this);
@@ -88,15 +90,12 @@ export default class MessageComposerInput extends React.Component {
         this.onDownArrow = this.onDownArrow.bind(this);
         this.onTab = this.onTab.bind(this);
         this.onConfirmAutocompletion = this.onConfirmAutocompletion.bind(this);
+        this.onMarkdownToggleClicked = this.onMarkdownToggleClicked.bind(this);
 
-        let isRichtextEnabled = window.localStorage.getItem('mx_editor_rte_enabled');
-        if (isRichtextEnabled == null) {
-            isRichtextEnabled = 'true';
-        }
-        isRichtextEnabled = isRichtextEnabled === 'true';
+        const isRichtextEnabled = UserSettingsStore.getSyncedSetting('MessageComposerInput.isRichTextEnabled', true);
 
         this.state = {
-            isRichtextEnabled: isRichtextEnabled,
+            isRichtextEnabled,
             editorState: null,
         };
 
@@ -236,8 +235,18 @@ export default class MessageComposerInput extends React.Component {
         this.sentHistory.saveLastTextEntry();
     }
 
+    componentWillUpdate(nextProps, nextState) {
+        // this is dirty, but moving all this state to MessageComposer is dirtier
+        if (this.props.onInputStateChanged && nextState !== this.state) {
+            const state = this.getSelectionInfo(nextState.editorState);
+            state.isRichtextEnabled = nextState.isRichtextEnabled;
+            this.props.onInputStateChanged(state);
+        }
+    }
+
     onAction(payload) {
         let editor = this.refs.editor;
+        let contentState = this.state.editorState.getCurrentContent();
 
         switch (payload.action) {
             case 'focus_composer':
@@ -246,35 +255,44 @@ export default class MessageComposerInput extends React.Component {
 
             // TODO change this so we insert a complete user alias
 
-            case 'insert_displayname':
-                if (this.state.editorState.getCurrentContent().hasText()) {
-                    console.log(payload);
-                    let contentState = Modifier.replaceText(
-                        this.state.editorState.getCurrentContent(),
-                        this.state.editorState.getSelection(),
-                        payload.displayname
-                    );
-                    this.setState({
-                        editorState: EditorState.push(this.state.editorState, contentState, 'insert-characters'),
-                    });
+            case 'insert_displayname': {
+                contentState = Modifier.replaceText(
+                    contentState,
+                    this.state.editorState.getSelection(),
+                    `${payload.displayname}: `
+                );
+                let editorState = EditorState.push(this.state.editorState, contentState, 'insert-characters');
+                editorState = EditorState.forceSelection(editorState, contentState.getSelectionAfter());
+                this.setEditorState(editorState);
+                editor.focus();
+            }
+            break;
+
+            case 'quote': {
+                let {event: {content: {body, formatted_body}}} = payload.event || {};
+                formatted_body = formatted_body || escape(body);
+                if (formatted_body) {
+                    let content = RichText.HTMLtoContentState(`<blockquote>${formatted_body}</blockquote>`);
+                    if (!this.state.isRichtextEnabled) {
+                        content = ContentState.createFromText(stateToMarkdown(content));
+                    }
+
+                    const blockMap = content.getBlockMap();
+                    let startSelection = SelectionState.createEmpty(contentState.getFirstBlock().getKey());
+                    contentState = Modifier.splitBlock(contentState, startSelection);
+                    startSelection = SelectionState.createEmpty(contentState.getFirstBlock().getKey());
+                    contentState = Modifier.replaceWithFragment(contentState,
+                        startSelection,
+                        blockMap);
+                    startSelection = SelectionState.createEmpty(contentState.getFirstBlock().getKey());
+                    if (this.state.isRichtextEnabled)
+                        contentState = Modifier.setBlockType(contentState, startSelection, 'blockquote');
+                    let editorState = EditorState.push(this.state.editorState, contentState, 'insert-characters');
+                    this.setEditorState(editorState);
                     editor.focus();
                 }
-                break;
-        }
-    }
-
-    onKeyDown(ev) {
-        if (ev.keyCode === KeyCode.UP || ev.keyCode === KeyCode.DOWN) {
-            var oldSelectionStart = this.refs.textarea.selectionStart;
-            // Remember the keyCode because React will recycle the synthetic event
-            var keyCode = ev.keyCode;
-            // set a callback so we can see if the cursor position changes as
-            // a result of this event. If it doesn't, we cycle history.
-            setTimeout(() => {
-                if (this.refs.textarea.selectionStart == oldSelectionStart) {
-                    this.sentHistory.next(keyCode === KeyCode.UP ? 1 : -1);
-                }
-            }, 0);
+            }
+            break;
         }
     }
 
@@ -344,13 +362,10 @@ export default class MessageComposerInput extends React.Component {
         }
     }
 
-    onInputClick(ev) {
-        this.refs.editor.focus();
-    }
 
-    setEditorState(editorState: EditorState) {
+    setEditorState(editorState: EditorState, cb = () => null) {
         editorState = RichText.attachImmutableEntitiesToEmoji(editorState);
-        this.setState({editorState});
+        this.setState({editorState}, cb);
 
         if (editorState.getCurrentContent().hasText()) {
             this.onTypingActivity();
@@ -359,27 +374,34 @@ export default class MessageComposerInput extends React.Component {
         }
 
         if (this.props.onContentChanged) {
-            this.props.onContentChanged(editorState.getCurrentContent().getPlainText(),
-                RichText.selectionStateToTextOffsets(editorState.getSelection(),
-                    editorState.getCurrentContent().getBlocksAsArray()));
+            const textContent = editorState.getCurrentContent().getPlainText();
+            const selection = RichText.selectionStateToTextOffsets(editorState.getSelection(),
+                editorState.getCurrentContent().getBlocksAsArray());
+
+            this.props.onContentChanged(textContent, selection);
         }
     }
 
     enableRichtext(enabled: boolean) {
+        let contentState = null;
         if (enabled) {
-            let html = mdownToHtml(this.state.editorState.getCurrentContent().getPlainText());
-            this.setEditorState(this.createEditorState(enabled, RichText.HTMLtoContentState(html)));
+            const html = mdownToHtml(this.state.editorState.getCurrentContent().getPlainText());
+            contentState = RichText.HTMLtoContentState(html);
         } else {
-            let markdown = stateToMarkdown(this.state.editorState.getCurrentContent()),
-                contentState = ContentState.createFromText(markdown);
-            this.setEditorState(this.createEditorState(enabled, contentState));
+            let markdown = stateToMarkdown(this.state.editorState.getCurrentContent());
+            if (markdown[markdown.length - 1] === '\n') {
+                markdown = markdown.substring(0, markdown.length - 1); // stateToMarkdown tacks on an extra newline (?!?)
+            }
+            contentState = ContentState.createFromText(markdown);
         }
 
-        window.localStorage.setItem('mx_editor_rte_enabled', enabled);
-
-        this.setState({
-            isRichtextEnabled: enabled
+        this.setEditorState(this.createEditorState(enabled, contentState), () => {
+            this.setState({
+                isRichtextEnabled: enabled,
+            });
         });
+
+        UserSettingsStore.setSyncedSetting('MessageComposerInput.isRichTextEnabled', enabled);
     }
 
     handleKeyCommand(command: string): boolean {
@@ -391,7 +413,17 @@ export default class MessageComposerInput extends React.Component {
         let newState: ?EditorState = null;
 
         // Draft handles rich text mode commands by default but we need to do it ourselves for Markdown.
-        if (!this.state.isRichtextEnabled) {
+        if (this.state.isRichtextEnabled) {
+            // These are block types, not handled by RichUtils by default.
+            const blockCommands = ['code-block', 'blockquote', 'unordered-list-item', 'ordered-list-item'];
+
+            if (blockCommands.includes(command)) {
+                this.setEditorState(RichUtils.toggleBlockType(this.state.editorState, command));
+            } else if (command === 'strike') {
+                // this is the only inline style not handled by Draft by default
+                this.setEditorState(RichUtils.toggleInlineStyle(this.state.editorState, 'STRIKETHROUGH'));
+            }
+        } else {
             let contentState = this.state.editorState.getCurrentContent(),
                 selection = this.state.editorState.getSelection();
 
@@ -399,7 +431,11 @@ export default class MessageComposerInput extends React.Component {
                 bold: text => `**${text}**`,
                 italic: text => `*${text}*`,
                 underline: text => `_${text}_`, // there's actually no valid underline in Markdown, but *shrug*
+                strike: text => `~~${text}~~`,
                 code: text => `\`${text}\``,
+                blockquote: text => text.split('\n').map(line => `> ${line}\n`).join(''),
+                'unordered-list-item': text => text.split('\n').map(line => `- ${line}\n`).join(''),
+                'ordered-list-item': text => text.split('\n').map((line, i) => `${i+1}. ${line}\n`).join(''),
             }[command];
 
             if (modifyFn) {
@@ -418,12 +454,14 @@ export default class MessageComposerInput extends React.Component {
             this.setEditorState(newState);
             return true;
         }
+
         return false;
     }
 
     handleReturn(ev) {
         if (ev.shiftKey) {
-            return false;
+            this.setEditorState(RichUtils.insertSoftNewline(this.state.editorState));
+            return true;
         }
 
         const contentState = this.state.editorState.getCurrentContent();
@@ -464,7 +502,7 @@ export default class MessageComposerInput extends React.Component {
             return true;
         }
 
-        if(this.state.isRichtextEnabled) {
+        if (this.state.isRichtextEnabled) {
             contentHTML = RichText.contentStateToHTML(contentState);
         } else {
             contentHTML = mdownToHtml(contentText);
@@ -536,20 +574,91 @@ export default class MessageComposerInput extends React.Component {
         setTimeout(() => this.refs.editor.focus(), 50);
     }
 
-    render() {
-        let className = "mx_MessageComposer_input";
+    onFormatButtonClicked(name: "bold" | "italic" | "strike" | "code" | "underline" | "quote" | "bullet" | "numbullet", e) {
+        e.preventDefault(); // don't steal focus from the editor!
+        const command = {
+            code: 'code-block',
+            quote: 'blockquote',
+            bullet: 'unordered-list-item',
+            numbullet: 'ordered-list-item',
+        }[name] || name;
+        this.handleKeyCommand(command);
+    }
 
-        if (this.state.isRichtextEnabled) {
-            className += " mx_MessageComposer_input_rte"; // placeholder indicator for RTE mode
+    /* returns inline style and block type of current SelectionState so MessageComposer can render formatting
+    buttons. */
+    getSelectionInfo(editorState: EditorState) {
+        const styleName = {
+            BOLD: 'bold',
+            ITALIC: 'italic',
+            STRIKETHROUGH: 'strike',
+            UNDERLINE: 'underline',
+        };
+
+        const originalStyle = editorState.getCurrentInlineStyle().toArray();
+        const style = originalStyle
+                .map(style => styleName[style] || null)
+                .filter(styleName => !!styleName);
+
+        const blockName = {
+            'code-block': 'code',
+            blockquote: 'quote',
+            'unordered-list-item': 'bullet',
+            'ordered-list-item': 'numbullet',
+        };
+        const originalBlockType = editorState.getCurrentContent()
+            .getBlockForKey(editorState.getSelection().getStartKey())
+            .getType();
+        const blockType = blockName[originalBlockType] || null;
+
+        return {
+            style,
+            blockType,
+        };
+    }
+
+    onMarkdownToggleClicked(e) {
+        e.preventDefault(); // don't steal focus from the editor!
+        this.handleKeyCommand('toggle-mode');
+    }
+
+    getBlockStyle(block: ContentBlock): ?string {
+        if (block.getType() === 'strikethrough') {
+            return 'mx_Markdown_STRIKETHROUGH';
         }
 
+        return null;
+    }
+
+    render() {
+        const {editorState} = this.state;
+
+        // From https://github.com/facebook/draft-js/blob/master/examples/rich/rich.html#L92
+        // If the user changes block type before entering any text, we can
+        // either style the placeholder or hide it.
+        let hidePlaceholder = false;
+        const contentState = editorState.getCurrentContent();
+        if (!contentState.hasText()) {
+            if (contentState.getBlockMap().first().getType() !== 'unstyled') {
+                hidePlaceholder = true;
+            }
+        }
+
+        const className = classNames('mx_MessageComposer_input', {
+            mx_MessageComposer_input_empty: hidePlaceholder,
+        });
+
         return (
-            <div className={className}
-                 onClick={ this.onInputClick }>
+            <div className={className}>
+                <img className="mx_MessageComposer_input_markdownIndicator"
+                     onMouseDown={this.onMarkdownToggleClicked}
+                     title={`Markdown is ${this.state.isRichtextEnabled ? 'disabled' : 'enabled'}`}
+                     src={`img/button-md-${!this.state.isRichtextEnabled}.png`} />
                 <Editor ref="editor"
                         placeholder="Type a message…"
                         editorState={this.state.editorState}
                         onChange={this.setEditorState}
+                        blockStyleFn={this.getBlockStyle}
                         keyBindingFn={MessageComposerInput.getKeyBinding}
                         handleKeyCommand={this.handleKeyCommand}
                         handleReturn={this.handleReturn}
@@ -582,4 +691,6 @@ MessageComposerInput.propTypes = {
 
     // attempts to confirm currently selected completion, returns whether actually confirmed
     tryComplete: React.PropTypes.func,
+
+    onInputStateChanged: React.PropTypes.func.isRequired,
 };