3 May 2016

Web Design

What is WYSIWYG and Why is it so Useful?

Here again is another term web designers use so frequently, and one that someone not involved in web-design would have no clue about.

To be honest, when you first hear it, it sounds like that white alien creature from that hit TV show for kids (I’ve totally forgotten the name but if you’re a 90’s kid, you’ll totally know what I mean!) However, it is much more useful and powerful than that.

With the above being said, it’s pretty obvious that this is going to be one of “those” blogs where a complicated term is explained so you can show off to all your web-designer (and non-web designer) friends that you really do know what you are talking about!

So, without further ado:

What is WYSIWYG?

Simply put it’s an acronym (if you don’t know what that means, I can’t help you) and it stands for What You See Is What You Get.

It’s actually pretty ingenious.

This is what web-designers call it when you can simply input content in a way that shows you how the content will look at the end. For example, when you write text on word, you use a space button for a space, press enter for a new paragraph etc. and it shows up exactly how it is.

What we don’t see is the coding in the background that allows the programme to recognize that a space bar means space. This “coding” also known as HTML is what “tells” the programme that you want something to look a certain way.

Why is it useful?

Well, think about it. If you don’t know HTML, how are you going to code for a hyperlink or a paragraph? A WYSIWIG editor can be used so you can directly input the text and hyperlink it without entering the coding for a programme that normally would require HTML.

This is useful not only for web designers, but also for people who are working extensively with portals and programmers that web designers and developers would use, but who don’t necessarily know everything they need to know about HTML.

This situation is more common than you think and could apply to copywriters who are writing text for blogs or webpages and even people who have an E-Commerce site and use Magento.

So, there you have it. Tell your friend, family and even your dog, I’m sure they’ll be thrilled and remember, that What You See Is truly What You Get – at least when there is a WYSIWIG editor to hand!

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