Html formatted text inside textarea

[LukosAnthropos]

Hi Im not sure if this comes under html, mysql or php help, Im inputting some html into a text area, for it to be retrived later and processed as html however, whenever i do this there are a couple of problems, mostly with the fact that < and > are retrieved as &gt; and &lt; anyone know a way arround this?

[Ninjakreborn]

The html pre allows the text you input to remain unchanged, which allows you to input html, to where it can be viewed. It sets preformatted text like
<pre><b>Welcome</b> to the <del>wonderful</del><ins>great</ins> world of php</pre>
if you types it without the pre tags the welcome would be bold, wonderful would be crossed out with great beside it, instead it will print out exactly as you see it when you use the pre tags.