wtf is annotator?

Annotator is a JavaScript library that lets you add highlighting and note-taking features to any website. Instead of reading a document passively, users can select text (or images, or other content), add comments or notes, and have those annotations saved automatically. Think of it like the margin notes you'd make in a physical book, but digital and shareable. The library handles the core mechanics of letting people select content and attach notes to it. But its real power comes from a plugin system that extends what you can do. You can add plugins to store annotations on a server so they persist across sessions, set up user authentication so each person's notes follow them across different websites, render fancy formatted text in your notes, or add tagging systems so annotations are organized and searchable. This flexibility means you're not locked into a single workflow, you can build the annotation experience that fits your specific use case. Who would use this? Publishers and educators building document platforms where readers need to comment and collaborate. Research teams that want to annotate articles or papers with shared notes. Content review platforms where multiple people need to mark up and discuss the same material. Any web application where adding inline feedback or markup would enhance the user experience. Instead of building all this annotation infrastructure from scratch, developers can integrate this library and customize it with plugins to match their needs. The project is mature and well-documented, with a community behind it and both official and community-contributed plugins available. You can see a working demo on their website to understand exactly how the selection and note-taking flow works before building anything yourself.