diff --git a/IPython/frontend/html/notebook/static/codemirror-2.12/mode/python/python.js b/IPython/frontend/html/notebook/static/codemirror-2.12/mode/python/python.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..0cda2aafe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/IPython/frontend/html/notebook/static/codemirror-2.12/mode/python/python.js
@@ -0,0 +1,321 @@
+CodeMirror.defineMode("python", function(conf) {
+    var ERRORCLASS = 'error';
+    
+    function wordRegexp(words) {
+        return new RegExp("^((" + words.join(")|(") + "))\\b");
+    }
+    
+    var singleOperators = new RegExp("^[\\+\\-\\*/%&|\\^~<>!\\?]");
+    var singleDelimiters = new RegExp('^[\\(\\)\\[\\]\\{\\}@,:`=;\\.]');
+    var doubleOperators = new RegExp("^((==)|(!=)|(<=)|(>=)|(<>)|(<<)|(>>)|(//)|(\\*\\*))");
+    var doubleDelimiters = new RegExp("^((\\+=)|(\\-=)|(\\*=)|(%=)|(/=)|(&=)|(\\|=)|(\\^=))");
+    var tripleDelimiters = new RegExp("^((//=)|(>>=)|(<<=)|(\\*\\*=))");
+    var identifiers = new RegExp("^[_A-Za-z][_A-Za-z0-9]*");
+
+    var wordOperators = wordRegexp(['and', 'or', 'not', 'is', 'in']);
+    var commonkeywords = ['as', 'assert', 'break', 'class', 'continue',
+                          'def', 'del', 'elif', 'else', 'except', 'finally',
+                          'for', 'from', 'global', 'if', 'import',
+                          'lambda', 'pass', 'raise', 'return',
+                          'try', 'while', 'with', 'yield'];
+    var commontypes = ['bool', 'classmethod', 'complex', 'dict', 'enumerate',
+                       'float', 'frozenset', 'int', 'list', 'object',
+                       'property', 'reversed', 'set', 'slice', 'staticmethod',
+                       'str', 'super', 'tuple', 'type'];
+    var py2 = {'types': ['basestring', 'buffer', 'file', 'long', 'unicode',
+                         'xrange'],
+               'keywords': ['exec', 'print']};
+    var py3 = {'types': ['bytearray', 'bytes', 'filter', 'map', 'memoryview',
+                         'open', 'range', 'zip'],
+               'keywords': ['nonlocal']};
+
+    if (!!conf.mode.version && parseInt(conf.mode.version, 10) === 3) {
+        commonkeywords = commonkeywords.concat(py3.keywords);
+        commontypes = commontypes.concat(py3.types);
+        var stringPrefixes = new RegExp("^(([rb]|(br))?('{3}|\"{3}|['\"]))", "i");
+    } else {
+        commonkeywords = commonkeywords.concat(py2.keywords);
+        commontypes = commontypes.concat(py2.types);
+        var stringPrefixes = new RegExp("^(([rub]|(ur)|(br))?('{3}|\"{3}|['\"]))", "i");
+    }
+    var keywords = wordRegexp(commonkeywords);
+    var types = wordRegexp(commontypes);
+
+    var indentInfo = null;
+
+    // tokenizers
+    function tokenBase(stream, state) {
+        // Handle scope changes
+        if (stream.sol()) {
+            var scopeOffset = state.scopes[0].offset;
+            if (stream.eatSpace()) {
+                var lineOffset = stream.indentation();
+                if (lineOffset > scopeOffset) {
+                    indentInfo = 'indent';
+                } else if (lineOffset < scopeOffset) {
+                    indentInfo = 'dedent';
+                }
+                return null;
+            } else {
+                if (scopeOffset > 0) {
+                    dedent(stream, state);
+                }
+            }
+        }
+        if (stream.eatSpace()) {
+            return null;
+        }
+        
+        var ch = stream.peek();
+        
+        // Handle Comments
+        if (ch === '#') {
+            stream.skipToEnd();
+            return 'comment';
+        }
+        
+        // Handle Number Literals
+        if (stream.match(/^[0-9\.]/, false)) {
+            var floatLiteral = false;
+            // Floats
+            if (stream.match(/^\d*\.\d+(e[\+\-]?\d+)?/i)) { floatLiteral = true; }
+            if (stream.match(/^\d+\.\d*/)) { floatLiteral = true; }
+            if (stream.match(/^\.\d+/)) { floatLiteral = true; }
+            if (floatLiteral) {
+                // Float literals may be "imaginary"
+                stream.eat(/J/i);
+                return 'number';
+            }
+            // Integers
+            var intLiteral = false;
+            // Hex
+            if (stream.match(/^0x[0-9a-f]+/i)) { intLiteral = true; }
+            // Binary
+            if (stream.match(/^0b[01]+/i)) { intLiteral = true; }
+            // Octal
+            if (stream.match(/^0o[0-7]+/i)) { intLiteral = true; }
+            // Decimal
+            if (stream.match(/^[1-9]\d*(e[\+\-]?\d+)?/)) {
+                // Decimal literals may be "imaginary"
+                stream.eat(/J/i);
+                // TODO - Can you have imaginary longs?
+                intLiteral = true;
+            }
+            // Zero by itself with no other piece of number.
+            if (stream.match(/^0(?![\dx])/i)) { intLiteral = true; }
+            if (intLiteral) {
+                // Integer literals may be "long"
+                stream.eat(/L/i);
+                return 'number';
+            }
+        }
+        
+        // Handle Strings
+        if (stream.match(stringPrefixes)) {
+            state.tokenize = tokenStringFactory(stream.current());
+            return state.tokenize(stream, state);
+        }
+        
+        // Handle operators and Delimiters
+        if (stream.match(tripleDelimiters) || stream.match(doubleDelimiters)) {
+            return null;
+        }
+        if (stream.match(doubleOperators)
+            || stream.match(singleOperators)
+            || stream.match(wordOperators)) {
+            return 'operator';
+        }
+        if (stream.match(singleDelimiters)) {
+            return null;
+        }
+        
+        if (stream.match(types)) {
+            return 'builtin';
+        }
+        
+        if (stream.match(keywords)) {
+            return 'keyword';
+        }
+        
+        if (stream.match(identifiers)) {
+            return 'variable';
+        }
+        
+        // Handle non-detected items
+        stream.next();
+        return ERRORCLASS;
+    }
+    
+    function tokenStringFactory(delimiter) {
+        while ('rub'.indexOf(delimiter[0].toLowerCase()) >= 0) {
+            delimiter = delimiter.substr(1);
+        }
+        var delim_re = new RegExp(delimiter);
+        var singleline = delimiter.length == 1;
+        var OUTCLASS = 'string';
+        
+        return function tokenString(stream, state) {
+            while (!stream.eol()) {
+                stream.eatWhile(/[^'"\\]/);
+                if (stream.eat('\\')) {
+                    stream.next();
+                    if (singleline && stream.eol()) {
+                        return OUTCLASS;
+                    }
+                } else if (stream.match(delim_re)) {
+                    state.tokenize = tokenBase;
+                    return OUTCLASS;
+                } else {
+                    stream.eat(/['"]/);
+                }
+            }
+            if (singleline) {
+                if (conf.mode.singleLineStringErrors) {
+                    OUTCLASS = ERRORCLASS
+                } else {
+                    state.tokenize = tokenBase;
+                }
+            }
+            return OUTCLASS;
+        };
+    }
+    
+    function indent(stream, state, type) {
+        type = type || 'py';
+        var indentUnit = 0;
+        if (type === 'py') {
+            for (var i = 0; i < state.scopes.length; ++i) {
+                if (state.scopes[i].type === 'py') {
+                    indentUnit = state.scopes[i].offset + conf.indentUnit;
+                    break;
+                }
+            }
+        } else {
+            indentUnit = stream.column() + stream.current().length;
+        }
+        state.scopes.unshift({
+            offset: indentUnit,
+            type: type
+        });
+    }
+    
+    function dedent(stream, state) {
+        if (state.scopes.length == 1) return;
+        if (state.scopes[0].type === 'py') {
+            var _indent = stream.indentation();
+            var _indent_index = -1;
+            for (var i = 0; i < state.scopes.length; ++i) {
+                if (_indent === state.scopes[i].offset) {
+                    _indent_index = i;
+                    break;
+                }
+            }
+            if (_indent_index === -1) {
+                return true;
+            }
+            while (state.scopes[0].offset !== _indent) {
+                state.scopes.shift();
+            }
+            return false
+        } else {
+            state.scopes.shift();
+            return false;
+        }
+    }
+
+    function tokenLexer(stream, state) {
+        indentInfo = null;
+        var style = state.tokenize(stream, state);
+        var current = stream.current();
+
+        // Handle '.' connected identifiers
+        if (current === '.') {
+            style = state.tokenize(stream, state);
+            current = stream.current();
+            if (style === 'variable') {
+                return 'variable';
+            } else {
+                return ERRORCLASS;
+            }
+        }
+        
+        // Handle decorators
+        if (current === '@') {
+            style = state.tokenize(stream, state);
+            current = stream.current();
+            if (style === 'variable'
+                || current === '@staticmethod'
+                || current === '@classmethod') {
+                return 'meta';
+            } else {
+                return ERRORCLASS;
+            }
+        }
+        
+        // Handle scope changes.
+        if (current === 'pass' || current === 'return') {
+            state.dedent += 1;
+        }
+        if ((current === ':' && !state.lambda && state.scopes[0].type == 'py')
+            || indentInfo === 'indent') {
+            indent(stream, state);
+        }
+        var delimiter_index = '[({'.indexOf(current);
+        if (delimiter_index !== -1) {
+            indent(stream, state, '])}'.slice(delimiter_index, delimiter_index+1));
+        }
+        if (indentInfo === 'dedent') {
+            if (dedent(stream, state)) {
+                return ERRORCLASS;
+            }
+        }
+        delimiter_index = '])}'.indexOf(current);
+        if (delimiter_index !== -1) {
+            if (dedent(stream, state)) {
+                return ERRORCLASS;
+            }
+        }
+        if (state.dedent > 0 && stream.eol() && state.scopes[0].type == 'py') {
+            if (state.scopes.length > 1) state.scopes.shift();
+            state.dedent -= 1;
+        }
+        
+        return style;
+    }
+
+    var external = {
+        startState: function(basecolumn) {
+            return {
+              tokenize: tokenBase,
+              scopes: [{offset:basecolumn || 0, type:'py'}],
+              lastToken: null,
+              lambda: false,
+              dedent: 0
+          };
+        },
+        
+        token: function(stream, state) {
+            var style = tokenLexer(stream, state);
+            
+            state.lastToken = {style:style, content: stream.current()};
+            
+            if (stream.eol() && stream.lambda) {
+                state.lambda = false;
+            }
+            
+            return style;
+        },
+        
+        indent: function(state, textAfter) {
+            if (state.tokenize != tokenBase) {
+                return 0;
+            }
+            
+            return state.scopes[0].offset;
+        }
+        
+    };
+    return external;
+});
+
+CodeMirror.defineMIME("text/x-python", "python");
diff --git a/IPython/frontend/html/notebook/static/css/notebook.css b/IPython/frontend/html/notebook/static/css/notebook.css
index ec3491edf..a0d7f5d88 100644
--- a/IPython/frontend/html/notebook/static/css/notebook.css
+++ b/IPython/frontend/html/notebook/static/css/notebook.css
@@ -180,6 +180,10 @@ div.output_prompt {
     color: darkred;
 }
 
+div.input_area {
+    color: black;
+}
+
 div.output_area {
     text-align: left;
     color: black;
@@ -205,16 +209,7 @@ div.html_cell {
     background-color: white;
 }
 
-textarea.html_cell_input {
-    /* Slightly bigger than the rest of the notebook */
-    font-size: 116%;
-    font-family: monospace;
-    outline: none;
-    resize: none;
-    width:  inherit;
-    border-style: none;
-    padding: 0px;
-    margin: 0px;
+div.html_cell_input {
     color: black;
 }
 
@@ -250,13 +245,16 @@ div.html_cell_render ol ol ol {list-style:decimal;}
 div.html_cell_render ol ol ol ol {list-style:lower-alpha;}
 div.html_cell_render ol ol ol ol ol {list-style:lower-roman;}
 
-
 .CodeMirror {
-  overflow: hidden; /* Changed from auto to remove scrollbar */
-  height: auto;     /* Changed to auto to autogrow */
   line-height: 1.231;  /* Changed from 1em to our global default */
 }
 
+.CodeMirror-scroll {
+  height: auto;     /* Changed to auto to autogrow */
+  overflow-y: visible; /* Changed from auto to remove scrollbar */
+  overflow-x: auto; /* Changed from auto to remove scrollbar */
+}
+
 /* CSS font colors for translated ANSI colors. */
 
 
diff --git a/IPython/frontend/html/notebook/static/js/codecell.js b/IPython/frontend/html/notebook/static/js/codecell.js
index 6f42eec74..e0588da85 100644
--- a/IPython/frontend/html/notebook/static/js/codecell.js
+++ b/IPython/frontend/html/notebook/static/js/codecell.js
@@ -29,6 +29,8 @@ var IPython = (function (IPython) {
             indentUnit : 4,
             enterMode : 'flat',
             tabMode: 'shift',
+            mode: 'python',
+            theme: 'ipython',
             onKeyEvent: $.proxy(this.handle_codemirror_keyevent,this)
         });
         input.append(input_area);
@@ -144,7 +146,14 @@ var IPython = (function (IPython) {
 
     CodeCell.prototype.select = function () {
         IPython.Cell.prototype.select.apply(this);
+        // Todo: this dance is needed because as of CodeMirror 2.12, focus is
+        // not causing the cursor to blink if the editor is empty initially.
+        // While this seems to fix the issue, this should be fixed
+        // in CodeMirror proper.
+        var s = this.code_mirror.getValue();
+        if (s === '') this.code_mirror.setValue('.');
         this.code_mirror.focus();
+        if (s === '') this.code_mirror.setValue('');
     };
 
 
diff --git a/IPython/frontend/html/notebook/templates/notebook.html b/IPython/frontend/html/notebook/templates/notebook.html
index a95522e44..4e1f16777 100644
--- a/IPython/frontend/html/notebook/templates/notebook.html
+++ b/IPython/frontend/html/notebook/templates/notebook.html
@@ -19,8 +19,9 @@
     }
     </script>
 
-    <link rel="stylesheet" href="static/codemirror2/lib/codemirror.css">
-    <link rel="stylesheet" href="static/codemirror2/mode/python/python.css">
+    <link rel="stylesheet" href="static/codemirror-2.12/lib/codemirror.css">
+    <link rel="stylesheet" href="static/codemirror-2.12/mode/rst/rst.css">
+    <link rel="stylesheet" href="static/codemirror-2.12/theme/ipython.css">
 
     <link rel="stylesheet" href="static/css/boilerplate.css" type="text/css" />
     <link rel="stylesheet" href="static/css/layout.css" type="text/css" />
@@ -184,8 +185,13 @@
 <script src="static/js/leftpanel.js" type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8"></script>
 <script src="static/js/notebook.js" type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8"></script>
 <script src="static/js/notebook_main.js" type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8"></script>
-<script src="static/codemirror2/lib/codemirror.js"></script>
-<script src="static/codemirror2/mode/python/python.js"></script>
+<script src="static/codemirror-2.12/lib/codemirror.js"></script>
+<script src="static/codemirror-2.12/mode/python/python.js"></script>
+<script src="static/codemirror-2.12/mode/htmlmixed/htmlmixed.js"></script>
+<script src="static/codemirror-2.12/mode/xml/xml.js"></script>
+<script src="static/codemirror-2.12/mode/javascript/javascript.js"></script>
+<script src="static/codemirror-2.12/mode/css/css.js"></script>
+<script src="static/codemirror-2.12/mode/rst/rst.js"></script>
 
 </body>