diff --git a/lib/hyp_diff.rb b/lib/hyp_diff.rb
index 047f4f3..fbff4e0 100644
--- a/lib/hyp_diff.rb
+++ b/lib/hyp_diff.rb
@@ -42,14 +42,14 @@ def compare(before, after, options = {})
 
   # @api private
   class NodeMap
-    def self.for(change_node_tuples, &block)
+    def self.for(change_node_tuples)
       new.build(change_node_tuples).map
     end
 
     attr_reader :map
 
     def initialize
-      @map = {}
+      @map = Hash.new {|h, k| h[k] = [] }
       @stashed = []
     end
 
@@ -79,8 +79,7 @@ def build(change_node_tuples)
     end
 
     def append_to_node(node, change)
-      list = (@map[node] ||= [])
-      list << change
+      @map[node] << change
     end
   end
 
@@ -103,15 +102,63 @@ def render(changes)
       changes.each do |change|
         case change.action
         when "!" then
-          deletions << change.old_element.text
-          insertions << change.new_element.text
+          old_fulltext = change.old_element.fulltext
+          new_fulltext = change.new_element.fulltext
+          if old_fulltext.include?(new_fulltext)
+            if old_fulltext.start_with?(new_fulltext)
+              apply_insertions_and_deletions
+              new_text << new_fulltext
+              deletions << old_fulltext[new_fulltext.length..-1]
+              next
+            end
+            if old_fulltext.end_with?(new_fulltext)
+              deletions << old_fulltext[0, old_fulltext.length - new_fulltext.length]
+              apply_insertions_and_deletions
+              new_text << new_fulltext
+              next
+            end
+          end
+          if new_fulltext.include?(old_fulltext)
+            if new_fulltext.start_with?(old_fulltext)
+              apply_insertions_and_deletions
+              new_text << old_fulltext
+              insertions << new_fulltext[old_fulltext.length..-1]
+              next
+            end
+            if new_fulltext.end_with?(old_fulltext)
+              insertions << new_fulltext[0, new_fulltext.length - old_fulltext.length]
+              apply_insertions_and_deletions
+              new_text << old_fulltext
+              next
+            end
+          end
+          if insertions.empty? && deletions.empty? && change.old_element.before_whitespace && change.new_element.before_whitespace
+            new_text << " "
+            deletions << change.old_element.text
+            insertions << change.new_element.text
+            next
+          end
+          deletions << change.old_element.fulltext
+          insertions << change.new_element.fulltext
         when "=" then
+          if change.old_element.before_whitespace && !change.new_element.before_whitespace
+            deletions << " "
+            apply_insertions_and_deletions
+            new_text << change.new_element.text
+            next
+          end
+          if change.new_element.before_whitespace && !change.old_element.before_whitespace
+            insertions << " "
+            apply_insertions_and_deletions
+            new_text << change.new_element.text
+            next
+          end
           apply_insertions_and_deletions
-          new_text << escape_html(change.new_element.text)
+          new_text << escape_html(change.new_element.fulltext)
         when "+" then
-          insertions << change.new_element.text
+          insertions << change.new_element.fulltext
         when "-" then
-          deletions << change.old_element.text
+          deletions << change.old_element.fulltext
         else
           raise "unexpected change.action #{change.action}"
         end
@@ -131,6 +178,13 @@ def rendered_text
     attr_reader :insertions, :deletions, :new_text
 
     def apply_insertions_and_deletions
+      while !deletions.empty? && !insertions.empty?
+        break unless deletions.first == insertions.first
+
+        deletions.shift
+        new_text << insertions.shift
+      end
+
       if deletions.length > 0
         new_text << deletion_tag(deletions.join)
       end
@@ -163,7 +217,7 @@ def parse(text)
   end
 
   def extract_text(node)
-    filter_whitespace(text_fragments(node))
+    merge_whitespace(filter_whitespace(text_fragments(node)))
   end
 
   def text_fragments(node)
@@ -187,5 +241,34 @@ def filter_whitespace(node_list)
     result
   end
 
+  def merge_whitespace(node_list)
+    result = []
+
+    last_whitespace_node = nil
+    node_list.each do |node|
+      if node.whitespace?
+        last_whitespace_node = node
+        next
+      end
+
+      unless last_whitespace_node
+        result << node
+        next
+      end
+
+      if last_whitespace_node.node.equal?(node.node)
+        node.before_whitespace = last_whitespace_node
+      else
+        result << last_whitespace_node
+      end
+      last_whitespace_node = nil
+      result << node
+    end
+
+    result << last_whitespace_node if last_whitespace_node
+
+    result
+  end
+
 end; end
 
diff --git a/lib/hyp_diff/text_from_node.rb b/lib/hyp_diff/text_from_node.rb
index 9ad5d43..28053d6 100644
--- a/lib/hyp_diff/text_from_node.rb
+++ b/lib/hyp_diff/text_from_node.rb
@@ -1,13 +1,15 @@
 module HypDiff
 
 class TextFromNode
+  attr_accessor :before_whitespace
+
   def initialize(raw_text, node)
     @text = raw_text.strip == "" ? " " : raw_text
     @node = node
   end
 
   def ==(other)
-    text == other.text
+    eql?(other)
   end
 
   def eql?(other)
@@ -22,6 +24,10 @@ def whitespace?
     @text == " "
   end
 
+  def fulltext
+    before_whitespace ? " #{text}" : text
+  end
+
   def text
     @text
   end
diff --git a/spec/hyp_diff_spec.rb b/spec/hyp_diff_spec.rb
index 83f0b36..c3ccde9 100644
--- a/spec/hyp_diff_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/hyp_diff_spec.rb
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ def expect_diff(old, new, expected)
   end
 
   it "merges consecutive deletions into a single tag" do
-    expect_diff("hello beautiful world", "hello world", "hello <del>beautiful </del>world")
+    expect_diff("hello beautiful world", "hello world", "hello<del> beautiful</del> world")
   end
 
   it "merge consecutive additions and edits into single tags" do
@@ -131,14 +131,19 @@ def expect_diff(old, new, expected)
         "hello world",
         "hello world"
       )
-      expect_diff(
-        "<span>hello </span>world",
-        "hello<span> world</span>",
-        "hello<span> world</span>"
-      )
     end
 
-    it "considers trailing and leading whitespace for insertions and deletions" do
+    it "treats consecutive whitespace as a single whitespace across tags (best effort for special cases)" do
+      expect(
+        HypDiff.compare(
+          "<span>hello </span>world",
+          "hello<span> world</span>",
+        )
+      ).to eq("hello<span> world</span>")
+        .or eq("hello<del> </del><span><ins> </ins>world</span>")
+    end
+
+    it "considers trailing and leading whitespace for insertions and deletions", :aggregate_failures do
       expect_diff("hello", "hello world", "hello<ins> world</ins>")
       expect_diff("hello world", "hello", "hello<del> world</del>")
       expect_diff("world", "hello world", "<ins>hello </ins>world")
@@ -149,14 +154,14 @@ def expect_diff(old, new, expected)
       expect_diff("hello world", "hello ", "hello <del>world</del>")
     end
 
-    it "considers trailing and leading whitespace changes" do
+    it "considers trailing and leading whitespace changes", :aggregate_failures do
       expect_diff("hello ", "hello", "hello<del> </del>")
       expect_diff("hello", "hello ", "hello<ins> </ins>")
       expect_diff(" hello", "hello", "<del> </del>hello")
       expect_diff("hello", " hello", "<ins> </ins>hello")
     end
 
-    it "considers changes of text and whitespace" do
+    it "considers changes of text and whitespace", :aggregate_failures do
       expect_diff("hello world ", "hello friend", "hello <del>world </del><ins>friend</ins>")
       expect_diff(" bye world", "hello world", "<del> bye</del><ins>hello</ins> world")
       expect_diff("hello friend", "hello world ", "hello <del>friend</del><ins>world </ins>")
@@ -168,7 +173,7 @@ def expect_diff(old, new, expected)
     expect_diff("hello world", "hello, world", "hello<ins>,</ins> world")
   end
 
-  it "diffs changes of punctuation to words" do
+  it "diffs changes of punctuation to words", :aggregate_failures do
     expect_diff(
       "hello, world",
       "hello beautiful world",
@@ -181,7 +186,7 @@ def expect_diff(old, new, expected)
     )
   end
 
-  it "diffs changes of punctuation to leading and trailing spaces" do
+  it "diffs changes of punctuation to leading and trailing spaces", :aggregate_failures do
     expect_diff("hello.", "hello ", "hello<del>.</del><ins> </ins>")
     expect_diff("hello ", "hello.", "hello<del> </del><ins>.</ins>")
     expect_diff(" hello", ".hello", "<del> </del><ins>.</ins>hello")
@@ -192,4 +197,10 @@ def expect_diff(old, new, expected)
     expect_diff("hello world", "hello world.", "hello world<ins>.</ins>")
   end
 
+  it "converts newlines to spaces" do
+    content =
+      "<h3>Office philosophy</h3>\n<h4> No set working places</h4>\n<p> bla bla </p>"
+    expect_diff(content, content,
+      "<h3>Office philosophy</h3> <h4>No set working places</h4> <p>bla bla </p>")
+  end
 end
diff --git a/spec/large_text_spec.rb b/spec/large_text_spec.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ae4dad5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/large_text_spec.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+# encoding: utf-8
+require "hyp_diff"
+require "securerandom"
+
+describe HypDiff do
+  context "for large text" do
+    it "performs reasonably fast" do
+      words = []
+      300.times do
+        8.times do |i|
+          words << SecureRandom.hex([i + 2, 6].min)
+        end
+        words << "replace"
+        words << "me."
+      end
+      text = words.join(" ")
+      modified_text = text.gsub("replace me", "better text")
+      start = Time.now
+
+      HypDiff.compare(text, modified_text)
+      expect(Time.now - start).to be < 1
+    end
+  end
+end