Why this project?
Text transformations — ciphers, lipograms, word scrambles — are cornerstones of cryptography, creative writing, and linguistics. Tools exist for individual operations, but nothing lets you chain them together and see how each step reshapes your text in real-time. Text Smith fills that gap.
What is it?
A card-based text transformation laboratory. Select operations from a palette, arrange them in a pipeline, and watch your text flow through each transformation. See intermediate results at every stage, analyze character frequencies, and experiment with compound transformations that would be tedious to do manually.
How does it work?
Each transform card implements a specific text operation. Cards are arranged sequentially — output from one becomes input to the next. The pipeline processes left-to-right, updating in real-time as you type or adjust transform parameters. Key transforms include:
- Caesar Shift — Classical letter substitution, configurable offset.
- Atbash — Mirror cipher mapping a↔z, b↔y, etc.
- ROT13 — The classic half-alphabet rotation (shift of 13).
- Reverse — Reverses the entire text or per-word.
- Scramble — Randomizes letters within each word.
- Lipogram — Removes specified letters from the text.
- Vowel Swap — Cycles vowels (a→e→i→o→u→a).
The character frequency analyzer uses a simple histogram to show letter distribution, useful for cryptanalysis or seeing how transforms alter text statistics.
How to use it
- Type or paste text in the input panel on the left.
- Add transforms by clicking palette items or the "+ Add" button, then selecting a type.
- Configure each card — sliders for Caesar shift, text inputs for lipogram letters, dropdowns for reverse mode.
- Reorder cards by dragging them left/right in the pipeline.
- Watch output update in real-time, including intermediate results on each card.
- Analyze character frequency of input or output using the histogram.
- Use presets for quick-start combinations like "Encode (Caesar+Atbash)" or "Obfuscate (Reverse+Scramble)".
- Swap input and output to reverse-engineer a transformation.
- Copy text from either panel to clipboard.