How can I handle a text element like text box field?

2) Why is a text field not simple managed as a normal input field, but read-only?

Text elements can be conditionally managed just like field, but since they do not get any input, they cannot trigger conditions. 

Text elements cannot be displayed on PDF reports as well, please check this guide to show them: https://www.jotform.com/help/305-How-to-Show-Headers-and-Text-in-the-PDF 

You may also provide us more details about what you're referring to, we will be glad to help you. 

This was part of another question related to PDF and why it is not possible to create a PDF that matches the content the end-user saw when filling out the form, which to me is the baseline functionality of creating a PDF of a submission.

One proposed solution is to use a widget (e.g., short-scrollable terms), since then the widget can be treated 'normally' in PDF, e.g., included only when shown to the user and not conditionally hidden.

This seems like a band-aid, which is why I was wondering why text fields are not 'handled' more like normal read-only fields. 

Thank you for the details. 

As I can understand, you need to show the text on your PDF forms in the same way it's displayed on your form, it means that if a text is conditionally hidden, it should be hidden on the PDF report as well. 

Is this correct? 

This is not currently possible, but I want to confirm I understood your requirement so I can open a feature request for this. 

Looking forward to your response.