What You See Is What You Get

(WYSIWYG) /wiz'ee-wig/ Describes a user interface for

a document preparation system under which changes are

represented by displaying a more-or-less accurate image of the

way the document will finally appear, e.g. when printed. This

is in contrast to one that uses more-or-less obscure commands

that do not result in immediate visual feedback.

True WYSIWYG in environments supporting multiple fonts or

graphics is a a rarely-attained ideal; there are variants of

this term to express real-world manifestations including

WYSIAWYG (What You See Is ▫Almost▫ What You Get) and

WYSIMOLWYG (What You See Is More or Less What You Get). All

these can be mildly derogatory, as they are often used to

refer to dumbed-down {user-friendly} interfaces targeted at

non-programmers; a hacker has no fear of obscure commands

(compare {WYSIAYG}). On the other hand, {Emacs} was one of

the very first WYSIWYG editors, replacing (actually, at first

overlaying) the extremely obscure, command-based {TECO}.

See also {WIMP}.

(1999-03-03)