diff --git a/src/app/editor.coffee b/src/app/editor.coffee
index 04bbfb403..8ba985af7 100644
--- a/src/app/editor.coffee
+++ b/src/app/editor.coffee
@@ -20,7 +20,9 @@ class Editor extends View
       @subview 'gutter', new Gutter
       @input class: 'hidden-input', outlet: 'hiddenInput'
       @div class: 'scroll-view', outlet: 'scrollView', =>
-        @div class: 'lines', outlet: 'renderedLines', =>
+        @div class: 'overlayer', outlet: 'overlayer'
+        @div class: 'lines', outlet: 'renderedLines'
+        @div class: 'underlayer', outlet: 'underlayer'
       @div class: 'vertical-scrollbar', outlet: 'verticalScrollbar', =>
         @div outlet: 'verticalScrollbarContent'
 
@@ -465,6 +467,8 @@ class Editor extends View
     @updateRenderedLines() if @attached
 
     @renderedLines.css('top', -scrollTop)
+    @underlayer.css('top', -scrollTop)
+    @overlayer.css('top', -scrollTop)
     @gutter.lineNumbers.css('top', -scrollTop)
     if options?.adjustVerticalScrollbar ? true
       @verticalScrollbar.scrollTop(scrollTop)
@@ -661,7 +665,7 @@ class Editor extends View
   addCursorView: (cursor) ->
     cursorView = new CursorView(cursor, this)
     @cursorViews.push(cursorView)
-    @appendToLinesView(cursorView)
+    @overlayer.append(cursorView)
     cursorView
 
   removeCursorView: (cursorView) ->
@@ -689,7 +693,7 @@ class Editor extends View
   addSelectionView: (selection) ->
     selectionView = new SelectionView({editor: this, selection})
     @selectionViews.push(selectionView)
-    @appendToLinesView(selectionView)
+    @underlayer.append(selectionView)
     selectionView
 
   removeSelectionView: (selectionView) ->
@@ -700,11 +704,11 @@ class Editor extends View
     selectionView.remove() for selectionView in @getSelectionViews()
 
   appendToLinesView: (view) ->
-    @renderedLines.append(view)
+    @overlayer.append(view)
 
   calculateDimensions: ->
     fragment = $('<pre class="line" style="position: absolute; visibility: hidden;"><span>x</span></div>')
-    @appendToLinesView(fragment)
+    @renderedLines.append(fragment)
 
     lineRect = fragment[0].getBoundingClientRect()
     charRect = fragment.find('span')[0].getBoundingClientRect()
@@ -729,6 +733,8 @@ class Editor extends View
     minWidth = @charWidth * @maxScreenLineLength()
     unless @renderedLines.cachedMinWidth == minWidth
       @renderedLines.css('min-width', minWidth)
+      @underlayer.css('min-width', minWidth)
+      @overlayer.css('min-width', minWidth)
       @renderedLines.cachedMinWidth = minWidth
 
   handleScrollHeightChange: ->
@@ -860,6 +866,9 @@ class Editor extends View
     @renderedLines.css('padding-bottom', paddingBottom)
     @gutter.lineNumbers.css('padding-bottom', paddingBottom)
 
+    @underlayer.height(@screenLineCount() * @lineHeight)
+    @overlayer.height(@screenLineCount() * @lineHeight)
+
   getFirstVisibleScreenRow: ->
     Math.floor(@scrollTop() / @lineHeight)
 
diff --git a/static/editor.css b/static/editor.css
index 3900c25e6..b090cf92d 100644
--- a/static/editor.css
+++ b/static/editor.css
@@ -73,6 +73,17 @@
   overflow-x: hidden;
 }
 
+.editor .underlayer, .editor .overlayer {
+  pointer-events: none;
+  position: absolute;
+  width: 100%;
+  height: 100%;
+}
+
+.editor .underlayer {
+  z-index: 0;
+}
+
 .editor .lines {
   position: relative;
   display: table;
@@ -80,8 +91,14 @@
   width: 100%;
   /*overflow: hidden; i'm worried this is causing rendering problems */
   padding-right: 2em;
+  z-index: 1;
 }
 
+.editor .overlayer {
+  z-index: 2;
+}
+
+
 .editor .line span {
   vertical-align: top;
 }