client-side validation

I am trying to check via JavaScript whether the text box is empty or not. I try to reference it by the name given (in my case "text1" both in name and id tags) but it doesn't seem to find it. When WebWixRTE is used on a textarea tag, does it then, javascript-wise, actually replace the textarea with a different object? If so, what is the name of this object, if I want to reference it in javascript code to check to see if it is empty or not?

/M