jargon (WYSIAYG) /wiz'ee-ayg/ Describes a user interface
under which "What You See Is *All* You Get"; an unhappy
are easy to learn but often lack depth; they often frustrate
advanced users who would be better served by a command-style
interface. When this happens, the frustrated user has a
WYSIAYG problem.
and document formatting programs. WYSIWYG "
desktoppublishing" programs, for example, are a clear win for
creating small documents with lots of fonts and graphics in
them, especially things like newsletters and presentation
slides. When typesetting book-length manuscripts, on the
other hand, scale changes the nature of the task; one quickly
runs into WYSIAYG limitations, and the increased power and
flexibility of a command-driven formatter like
TeX or
Unix's
troff becomes not just desirable but a necessity.
(1999-03-03)