In this short paper we review basic ideas of string field theory with the emphasis on the recent developments. We show how without much technicalities one can look for analytic solutions to Witten’s open string field theory. This is an expanded version of a talk given by the author over the last year at a number of occasions1 and notably at the conference Selected Topics in Mathematical and Particle Physics in honor of Prof. JiˇrLi Niederle’s 70th birthday.