WYSIWYG





WYSIWYG (pronounced "whizzy-wig") is an acronym for What You See Is What You
Get, and is used in computing to refer to the technology that makes sure the
image seen on the screen corresponds to what is printed out on paper. Today
this is expected for word processors but in other situations, like web
(HTML) authoring, this is not always the case.

Meaning

   * A description of a user interface that allows the user to view the end
     result while the document or graphic character is being created
   * Allows the user to concentrate entirely in how the content should
     appear, although having the trade-off of not have the results being
     easily fine-tuned
   * Also used to describe specifically a web-page creation program in which
     the user creates the webpage visually, while the program generates the
     HTML for it

Most programs, even Microsoft Office, are not WYSIWYG since printing and
page formatting are still hidden from view.

Historical Notes

   * The phrase originated at Xerox PARC during the late 1970s when the
     first WYSIWYG editor, Bravo was created on the Alto. The Alto monitor
     (72 dpi) was designed so that one full page of text could be seen and
     then printed on the first laser printers. When the text was laid out on
     the screen 72 dpi font metric files were used, but when printed 300 dpi
     files were used -- thus you would occasionally find characters and
     words slightly off, a problem that continues to this day. (72 dpi, came
     from the standard of 72 "points" per inch used in the commercial
     printing industry.)
   * The researchers at PARC were simply reappropriating a popular
     catchphrase of the time originated by "Geraldine", a character on The
     Flip Wilson Show, (1970-1974). In addition to "What you see is what you
     get!", this character also popularized "The Devil made me do it!"
   * The Apple Macintosh system was originally designed so that the screen
     resolution and the resolution of the dot-matrix printers sold by Apple
     were identically 72 dpi; thus, the on-screen output of programs such as
     MacWrite and MacPaint were identical to the printer output, literally
     WYSIWYG. With the introduction of laser printers, with resolutions
     higher than the screen resolution, true WYSIWYG vanished.

Related Acronyms

In order of increasing obscurity:

   * WYSIWYG - What You See Is What You Get (basic)
   * WYSIAYG - What You See Is All You Get (used by computer programmers who
     point out that a style of "heading" that refers to a specification of
     "Helvetica 15 bold" provides more useful information than a style of
     "Helvetica 15 bold" every time a heading is used)
   * WYSIAWYG - What You See Is Almost What You Get (most text editing
     programs)
   * WYSIWYM - What You See Is What You Mean (You see what best conveys the
     message)
   * WYSIMOLWYG - What You See Is More Or Less What You Get (another way of
     stating WYSIAWYG)
   * WYTYSIWYTYG - What You Think You See Is What You Think You Get
     (Pronounced Whit-iss-ee-whit-ig) (When a program claims to be WYSIWYG
     but isn't)