Is there a simple set of tools to create Javascript buttons for text boxes?

When one enters a question on StackOverflow, just above the text entry box is a set of Javascript buttons to do things like make text bold or italic, and to insert pictures and links.

I want to create a similar set of buttons for my own custom Content Management System (CMS). I was hoping that this would not be the kind of task that I would have to re-invent the wheel for.

However, the only set of buttons I have come across is TinyMCE, which, to say the least is incredibly feature-bloated.

I only need the ability to select text, and then have it be modified to be bold, italic, or a link, using the syntax of my CMS.

After some examination, it seems to me that paring down TinyMCE down to that level would be more difficult than writing from scratch.

Is are an existing toolbox that I can use to help开发者_高级运维 me create these kinds of buttons (or perhaps a tutorial) that is ideally open source and not overly feature rich?

Note that I am not that great at Javascript programming, so while most programmers would probably assume this was easily done from scratch, I need a starting point to see how it is done.

Thank you for any advice.

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These are some of the tools like TinyMce , all are open source.

Alternative to Tinymce