Idea though:

Any way to make it so that the selected text is formatted? And is there any way to make it just insert the beginning tag and make the button appear "indented" and when they click it again it inserts the closing tag? And if they didn't insert the closing tags on hitting send it inserts closing tags for them.

?? huh huh huh how about it ?

Thanks -- an excellent hack by the way. My users love it!