The .val() property of an item in jQuery for a doesn\'t seem to work with new lines. I need this function as the text-area is mean
The forced new lines in textareas are \ns, other HTML tags than textarea will ignore these. You have to use to force new lines at those elements.
I suggest you use JavaScript to fix that rather than CSS as you already rely on JavaScript.
$( "#watched_textarea" ).keyup( function() {
$( "#output_div" ).html( $( this ).val().replace(/\n/g, '
') );
});
You can find the updated version here: http://jsfiddle.net/GbjTy/2/