diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 733dd040..78d23c0e 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 2007-xx-xx:
 	* version 0.6
 	* THIS VERSION ONLY WORKS WITH FIREFOX 3.0
+	* you can edit textfields with Ctrl-i now using an external editor (thanks to Joseph Xu)
 	* :open,:bmarks,etc. filter on space seperated tokens now, so you can
 	  search with :open linux windows <tab> all your bookmarks/history
 	  which contain linux AND windows in the url or title
diff --git a/content/editor.js b/content/editor.js
index 17c1dd9e..8901c540 100644
--- a/content/editor.js
+++ b/content/editor.js
@@ -300,7 +300,70 @@ function Editor() //{{{
         vimperator.beep();
         return -1;
     }
-    
+
+    this.editWithExternalEditor = function()
+    {
+        function err(msg)
+        {
+            vimperator.callFunctionInThread(null, vimperator.echoerr, [msg]);
+        }
+
+        var textBox = document.commandDispatcher.focusedElement;
+        var editor = vimperator.options["editor"];
+        var args = [];
+        args = editor.split(" ");
+        if (args.length < 1)
+        {
+            err("no editor specified");
+            return;
+        }
+
+        try
+        {
+            var tmpfile = vimperator.io.createTempFile();
+        }
+        catch (e)
+        {
+            err("Could not create temporary file: " + e.message);
+            return;
+        }
+        try 
+        {
+            vimperator.io.writeFile(tmpfile, textBox.value);
+        }
+        catch (e)
+        {
+            err("Could not write to temporary file " + tmpfile.path + ": " + e.message);
+            return;
+        }
+
+        var prog = args.shift();
+        args.push(tmpfile.path)
+
+        textBox.setAttribute("readonly", "true");
+        var newThread = Components.classes["@mozilla.org/thread-manager;1"].getService().newThread(0);
+        // TODO: save return value in v:shell_error
+        vimperator.callFunctionInThread(newThread, vimperator.run, [prog, args, true]);
+        textBox.removeAttribute("readonly");
+
+//        if (retcode != 0)
+//        {
+//            err("External editor returned with exit code " + retcode);
+//        }
+//        else
+        {
+            try
+            {
+                var val = vimperator.io.readFile(tmpfile);
+                textBox.value = val;
+            }
+            catch (e)
+            {
+                err("Could not read from temporary file " + tmpfile.path + ": " + e.message);
+            }
+        }
+        tmpfile.remove(false);
+    }
 } //}}}
 
 // vim: set fdm=marker sw=4 ts=4 et:
diff --git a/content/mappings.js b/content/mappings.js
index 3d9b044d..07cbd319 100644
--- a/content/mappings.js
+++ b/content/mappings.js
@@ -1920,6 +1920,10 @@ function Mappings() //{{{
         function() { vimperator.editor.pasteClipboard(); },
         { }
     ));
+    addDefaultMap(new Map([vimperator.modes.INSERT, vimperator.modes.TEXTAREA], ["<C-i>"], 
+        function() { vimperator.editor.editWithExternalEditor(); }, 
+        { }
+    ));
 
     //}}}
 
diff --git a/content/options.js b/content/options.js
index 9b133955..67645d0c 100644
--- a/content/options.js
+++ b/content/options.js
@@ -421,6 +421,16 @@ function Options() //{{{
             default_value: "google"
         }
     ));
+    addOption(new Option(["editor"], "string",
+        {
+            short_help: "Set the external text editor",
+            help: "Sets the editor to run when <code class=\"mapping\">&lt;C-i&gt;</code> " +
+                  "is pressed in INSERT and TEXTAREA modes. Note that vimperator will " +
+                  "not behave correctly if the editor forks its own process, such as with "+ 
+                  "gvim without the -f argument.", 
+            default_value: "gvim -f"
+        }
+    ));
     addOption(new Option(["extendedhinttags", "eht"], "string",
         {
             short_help: "XPath string of hintable elements activated by ';'",
diff --git a/content/vimperator.js b/content/vimperator.js
index 26b74766..14b3c418 100644
--- a/content/vimperator.js
+++ b/content/vimperator.js
@@ -697,13 +697,46 @@ const vimperator = (function() //{{{
 
         get windows() 
         {
-            var wm = Components.classes["@mozilla.org/appshell/window-mediator;1"].getService(Components.interfaces.nsIWindowMediator);
+            var wm = Components.classes["@mozilla.org/appshell/window-mediator;1"]
+                     .getService(Components.interfaces.nsIWindowMediator);
             var wa = [];
             var enumerator = wm.getEnumerator("navigator:browser");
             while (enumerator.hasMoreElements())
                 wa.push(enumerator.getNext());
             return wa;
+        },
+
+        // be sure to call GUI related methods like alert() or dump() ONLY in the main thread
+        callFunctionInThread: function(thread, func, args)
+        {
+            function CallbackEvent (func, args) 
+            {
+                if (!(args instanceof Array))
+                    args = [];
+
+                return {
+                    QueryInterface: function(iid) 
+                    {
+                        if (iid.equals(Components.interfaces.nsIRunnable) || 
+                            iid.equals(Components.interfaces.nsISupports))
+                            return this;
+                        throw Components.results.NS_ERROR_NO_INTERFACE;
+                    },
+
+                    run: function()
+                    {
+                        func.apply(window, args);
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+
+            if (!thread)
+                thread = Components.classes["@mozilla.org/thread-manager;1"].getService().newThread(0);
+
+            // DISPATCH_SYNC is necessary, otherwise strange things will happen
+			thread.dispatch(new CallbackEvent(func, args), thread.DISPATCH_SYNC);
         }
+
     } //}}}
 })(); //}}}