diff --git a/spec/app/editor-spec.coffee b/spec/app/editor-spec.coffee
index 0b2e246ce..5446777fa 100644
--- a/spec/app/editor-spec.coffee
+++ b/spec/app/editor-spec.coffee
@@ -214,7 +214,7 @@ describe "Editor", ->
       expect(editor.lineElementForScreenRow(0).text()).toBe 'abc'
 
       editor.edit(otherEditSession)
-      expect(editor.lineElementForScreenRow(0).html()).toBe ' '
+      expect(editor.lineElementForScreenRow(0).html()).toBe '<span class="text plain">&nbsp;</span>'
 
       editor.insertText("def\n")
       expect(editor.lineElementForScreenRow(0).text()).toBe 'def'
@@ -992,7 +992,7 @@ describe "Editor", ->
 
         # renders empty lines with a non breaking space
         expect(buffer.lineForRow(10)).toBe ''
-        expect(editor.renderedLines.find('.line:eq(10)').html()).toBe '&nbsp;'
+        expect(editor.renderedLines.find('.line:eq(10) span').html()).toBe '&nbsp;'
 
       it "syntax highlights code based on the file type", ->
         line0 = editor.renderedLines.find('.line:first')
@@ -1198,7 +1198,7 @@ describe "Editor", ->
             editor.scrollTop(editor.lineHeight * 3.5) # first visible row will be 3, last will be 8
             expect(editor.renderedLines.find('.line').length).toBe 10
             expect(editor.renderedLines.find('.line:first').text()).toBe buffer.lineForRow(1)
-            expect(editor.renderedLines.find('.line:last').html()).toBe '&nbsp;' # line 10 is blank
+            expect(editor.renderedLines.find('.line:last span').html()).toBe '&nbsp;' # line 10 is blank
             expect(editor.gutter.find('.line-number:first').text()).toBe '2'
             expect(editor.gutter.find('.line-number:last').text()).toBe '11'
 
@@ -1206,7 +1206,7 @@ describe "Editor", ->
             editor.scrollTop(editor.lineHeight * 5.5) # first visible row will be 5, last will be 10
             expect(editor.renderedLines.find('.line').length).toBe 10
             expect(editor.renderedLines.find('.line:first').text()).toBe buffer.lineForRow(1)
-            expect(editor.renderedLines.find('.line:last').html()).toBe '&nbsp;' # line 10 is blank
+            expect(editor.renderedLines.find('.line:last span').html()).toBe '&nbsp;' # line 10 is blank
             expect(editor.gutter.find('.line-number:first').text()).toBe '2'
             expect(editor.gutter.find('.line-number:last').text()).toBe '11'
 
@@ -1218,7 +1218,7 @@ describe "Editor", ->
             editor.scrollTop(editor.lineHeight * 3.5) # first visible row will be 3, last will be 8
             expect(editor.renderedLines.find('.line').length).toBe 10
             expect(editor.renderedLines.find('.line:first').text()).toBe buffer.lineForRow(1)
-            expect(editor.renderedLines.find('.line:last').html()).toBe '&nbsp;' # line 10 is blank
+            expect(editor.renderedLines.find('.line:last span').html()).toBe '&nbsp;' # line 10 is blank
 
             editor.scrollTop(0)
             expect(editor.renderedLines.find('.line').length).toBe 8
@@ -1827,3 +1827,12 @@ describe "Editor", ->
       editor.pageUp()
       expect(editor.getCursor().getScreenPosition().row).toBe(0)
       expect(editor.getFirstVisibleScreenRow()).toBe(0)
+
+  describe "when showInvisibles is enabled on the editSession", ->
+    beforeEach ->
+      editor.activeEditSession.showInvisibles = true
+      editor.attachToDom(5)
+
+    it "displays spaces as •, tabs as ▸ and newlines as ¬", ->
+      editor.setText " a line with tabs\tand spaces "
+      expect(editor.find('.line').text()).toBe "•a•line•with•tabs▸ and•spaces•¬"
diff --git a/src/app/edit-session.coffee b/src/app/edit-session.coffee
index 66ad0d8d3..34dea2477 100644
--- a/src/app/edit-session.coffee
+++ b/src/app/edit-session.coffee
@@ -35,11 +35,12 @@ class EditSession
   cursors: null
   selections: null
   autoIndent: false # TODO: re-enabled auto-indent after fixing the rest of tokenization
+  tabLength: null
   softTabs: true
   softWrap: false
-  tabLength: null
+  showInvisibles: false
 
-  constructor: ({@project, @buffer, @tabLength, @autoIndent, @softTabs, @softWrap}) ->
+  constructor: ({@project, @buffer, @tabLength, @autoIndent, @softTabs, @softWrap, @showInvisibles}) ->
     @id = @constructor.idCounter++
     @softTabs ?= true
     @languageMode = new LanguageMode(this, @buffer.getExtension())
diff --git a/src/app/editor.coffee b/src/app/editor.coffee
index 1d6b87ac4..bf1080284 100644
--- a/src/app/editor.coffee
+++ b/src/app/editor.coffee
@@ -873,12 +873,13 @@ class Editor extends View
     attributePairs.push "#{attributeName}=\"#{value}\"" for attributeName, value of lineAttributes
     line.push("<pre #{attributePairs.join(' ')}>")
 
-    if screenLine.text == ''
-      line.push('&nbsp;')
-    else
-      for token in screenLine.tokens
-        updateScopeStack(token.scopes)
-        line.push(token.escapeValue())
+    for token in screenLine.tokens
+      updateScopeStack(token.scopes)
+      line.push(token.escapeValue(@activeEditSession.showInvisibles))
+
+    if @activeEditSession.showInvisibles
+      line.push("<pre class='invisible'>¬</pre>")
+
     line.push('</pre>')
     line.join('')
 
diff --git a/src/app/token.coffee b/src/app/token.coffee
index 9fd520be6..af1ece5a2 100644
--- a/src/app/token.coffee
+++ b/src/app/token.coffee
@@ -5,8 +5,9 @@ class Token
   value: null
   scopes: null
   isAtomic: null
+  isTab: null
 
-  constructor: ({@value, @scopes, @isAtomic, @bufferDelta, @fold}) ->
+  constructor: ({@value, @scopes, @isAtomic, @bufferDelta, @fold, @isTab}) ->
     @screenDelta = @value.length
     @bufferDelta ?= @screenDelta
 
@@ -24,20 +25,30 @@ class Token
   breakOutTabCharacters: (tabLength) ->
     return [this] unless /\t/.test(@value)
 
+    tabText = new Array(tabLength + 1).join(" ")
     for substring in @value.match(/([^\t]+|\t)/g)
       if substring == '\t'
-        @buildTabToken(tabLength)
+        new Token(value: tabText, scopes: @scopes, bufferDelta: 1, isAtomic: true, isTab: true)
       else
         new Token(value: substring, scopes: @scopes)
 
   buildTabToken: (tabLength) ->
     tabText = new Array(tabLength + 1).join(" ")
-    new Token(value: tabText, scopes: @scopes, bufferDelta: 1, isAtomic: true)
 
-  escapeValue: ->
-    @value
+  escapeValue: (showInvisibles)->
+    return "&nbsp;" if @value == ""
+
+    value = @value
       .replace(/&/g, '&amp;')
       .replace(/"/g, '&quot;')
       .replace(/'/g, '&#39;')
       .replace(/</g, '&lt;')
       .replace(/>/g, '&gt;')
+
+    if showInvisibles
+      if @isTab
+        value = "▸" + value[1..]
+      else
+        value = value.replace(/[ ]+/g, "•")
+
+    value