diff --git a/src/app/cursor-view.coffee b/src/app/cursor-view.coffee
index 03fae93de..a2bead1f8 100644
--- a/src/app/cursor-view.coffee
+++ b/src/app/cursor-view.coffee
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ _ = require 'underscore'
 module.exports =
 class CursorView extends View
   @content: ->
-    @pre class: 'cursor idle', => @raw ' '
+    @div class: 'cursor idle', => @raw ' '
 
   blinkPeriod: 800
   editor: null
diff --git a/src/app/editor.coffee b/src/app/editor.coffee
index 9645585d7..868b3ce61 100644
--- a/src/app/editor.coffee
+++ b/src/app/editor.coffee
@@ -726,7 +726,7 @@ class Editor extends View
     @overlayer.append(view)
 
   calculateDimensions: ->
-    fragment = $('<pre class="line" style="position: absolute; visibility: hidden;"><span>x</span></div>')
+    fragment = $('<div class="line" style="position: absolute; visibility: hidden;"><span>x</span></div>')
     @renderedLines.append(fragment)
 
     lineRect = fragment[0].getBoundingClientRect()
@@ -1052,7 +1052,7 @@ class Editor extends View
 
     attributePairs = []
     attributePairs.push "#{attributeName}=\"#{value}\"" for attributeName, value of lineAttributes
-    line.push("<pre #{attributePairs.join(' ')}>")
+    line.push("<div #{attributePairs.join(' ')}>")
 
     invisibles = @invisibles if @showInvisibles
 
@@ -1081,7 +1081,7 @@ class Editor extends View
 
     line.push("<span class='fold-marker'/>") if fold
 
-    line.push('</pre>')
+    line.push('</div>')
     line.join('')
 
   lineElementForScreenRow: (screenRow) ->
diff --git a/static/editor.less b/static/editor.less
index 4ac5cb832..e2d66e56e 100644
--- a/static/editor.less
+++ b/static/editor.less
@@ -139,6 +139,10 @@
   position: absolute;
 }
 
+.editor .line {
+  white-space: pre;
+}
+
 .editor .line span {
   vertical-align: top;
 }