diff --git a/sourcing/static/css/style.css b/sourcing/static/css/style.css
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2baf1d1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sourcing/static/css/style.css
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+.highlight {
+    padding: 2px;
+    background: yellow;
+}
diff --git a/sourcing/templates/head.html b/sourcing/templates/head.html
index 1024ef2..726071d 100644
--- a/sourcing/templates/head.html
+++ b/sourcing/templates/head.html
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 <title>{{ title | default("Xanadu") }}</title>
 
 <link rel="stylesheet" href="{{ url_for('static', filename='bootstrap/css/bootstrap.css') }}">
+<link rel="stylesheet" href="{{ url_for('static', filename='css/style.css') }}">
 {{ style | safe }}
 </head>
 
diff --git a/sourcing/templates/view.html b/sourcing/templates/view.html
index 5f38166..e96fc2b 100644
--- a/sourcing/templates/view.html
+++ b/sourcing/templates/view.html
@@ -9,29 +9,46 @@ div#text { font-family: Courier; }
   <div class="col-xs-12">
     <h1>{{ title }}
       {% if doc.user == current_user %}
-      <a href="{{ doc.edit_url }}" class="btn btn-default">edit</a>
+        <a href="{{ doc.edit_url }}" class="btn btn-default">edit</a>
       {% endif %}
       {% if doc.type == 'xanadoc' %}
-      <a href="{{ doc.url }}" class="btn btn-default">fulfil</a>
+        <a href="{{ doc.url }}" class="btn btn-default">fulfil</a>
       {% endif %}
     </h1>
     <p><a href="{{ url_for('.home') }}">back to index</a></p>
+
     <div class="well" id="text">
-    {%- for start, line in iter_lines(doc.text) if line -%}
-      <p data-start="{{ start }}">{{ line }}</p>
-    {%- endfor -%}
+    {% if span_start and span_length %}
+      {%- for start, line in add_highlight(doc.text, span_start, span_length) if line -%}
+        <p data-start="{{ start }}">
+          {% for i in line %}
+            {%- if i.highlight -%}
+              <span class="highlight">{{- i.highlight -}}</span>
+            {%- else -%}
+              {{- i.text -}}
+            {%- endif -%}
+          {% endfor %}
+        </p>
+      {%- endfor -%}
+    {% else %}
+      {%- for start, line in iter_lines(doc.text) if line -%}
+        <p data-start="{{ start }}">{{ line }}</p>
+      {%- endfor -%}
+    {% endif %}
     </div>
-    {% if doc.type == 'sourcedoc' %}
+
+    {% if doc.type == 'sourcedoc' and not (span_start and span_length) %}
       <a href="#" id="show-span-selector" class="btn btn-default">show span selector</a>
       <p id="span-selector" class="hidden">span: <span id="span"></span></p>
-      {% set scripts %}
-      <script>
-        var doc_url = '{{ doc.external_url }}';
-      </script>
-      <script src="{{ url_for('static', filename='js/sourcedoc.js') }}"></script>
-      {% endset %}
     {% endif %}
   </div>
 </div>
 
+{% set scripts %}
+<script>
+  var doc_url = '{{ doc.external_url }}';
+</script>
+<script src="{{ url_for('static', filename='js/sourcedoc.js') }}"></script>
+{% endset %}
+
 {% include "foot.html" %}
diff --git a/sourcing/text.py b/sourcing/text.py
index cbfea91..b8cb383 100644
--- a/sourcing/text.py
+++ b/sourcing/text.py
@@ -19,3 +19,23 @@ def censor_text(text):
     def random_chr():
         return chr(random.randint(9728, 9983))
     return ''.join(random_chr() if c.isalnum() else c for c in text)
+
+def add_highlight(text, span_start, span_length):
+    span_end = span_start + span_length
+    for start, line in iter_lines(text):
+        end = start + len(line)
+        if not ((end > span_start) and (start < span_end)):
+            yield start, [{'text': line}]
+            continue
+
+        within_line = span_start - start
+        cur = []
+        if within_line > 0:
+            before = line[:within_line]
+            cur.append({'text': before})
+        cur.append({'highlight': line[max(within_line, 0):within_line + span_length]})
+        after = line[within_line + span_length:]
+        if after:
+            cur.append({'text': after})
+
+        yield start, cur
diff --git a/sourcing/view.py b/sourcing/view.py
index 3cd01d2..d6dd6d2 100644
--- a/sourcing/view.py
+++ b/sourcing/view.py
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ from .model import User, SourceDoc, Item, XanaDoc, XanaLink
 from .url import get_url
 from .edl import fulfil_edl_with_sources
 from .database import session
-from .text import iter_lines
+from .text import iter_lines, add_highlight
 from werkzeug.debug.tbtools import get_current_traceback
 from jinja2 import evalcontextfilter, Markup
 from functools import wraps
@@ -137,20 +137,31 @@ def view_edl(username, hashid):
 
     return render_template('view.html', doc=item, iter_lines=iter_lines)
 
+@bp.route('/<username>/<hashid>/raw')
+def view_item_raw(username, hashid):
+    return view_item(username, hashid, raw=True)
+
 @bp.route('/<username>/<hashid>')
-def view_item(username, hashid):
+def view_item(username, hashid, raw=False):
     if ',' in hashid:
         m = re_spanpointer.match(hashid)
         hashid, start, length = m.group(1), int(m.group(2)), int(m.group(3))
         item = get_item(username, hashid)
-        return Response(item.text[start:length + start], mimetype='text/plain')
-
-    item = get_item(username, hashid)
+        if raw:
+            return Response(item.text[start:length + start], mimetype='text/plain')
+    else:
+        start, length = None, None
+        item = get_item(username, hashid)
+    if raw:
+        return Response(item.text, mimetype='text/plain')
     if item.type == 'xanadoc':
         return view_xanadoc(item)
 
     return render_template('view.html',
                            doc=item,
+                           span_start=start,
+                           span_length=length,
+                           add_highlight=add_highlight,
                            iter_lines=iter_lines)
 
 @bp.route('/<username>/<hashid>/edit', methods=['GET', 'POST'])