Living In a WYSIWYG World: Part 2
So I just finished reading an article on Web Design from Scratch regarding the previous topic I discussed of the downsides to using a WYSIWYG.
He seems to bring some of the same points into play. If you have time, check out other parts of that site. I think it would be a great resource for beginners.
The big thing I have noted is that when something goes wrong — those who rely on the WYSIWYG rarely know where to even start to fix the problem. They scramble, often times making things more difficult in the hunt to find why their page is displaying wrong or not showing up.
3 Comments Add your comment
Percy February 2nd, 2006
My world of WYSIWYG is *strictly* onsite editing WYSIWYGs. It's a world of CMSs where the user needs to be able to edit the content right then and there without any special software (other than a browser that supports it). His article seemed to point mostly towards using a WYSIWYG editor for designing a website (ie. building out the HTML/CSS from the PSD or whatever you designed it in), and in those cases I agree whole-heartedly that a web designer/developer needs to be able to code it by hand. I especially liked his point about how if something goes wrong, who have no idea where to even begin looking.
Anyway back to my world of WYSIWYG. I use a WYSIWYG in my CMSs for content editing, and that's all. The design is controlled by the designer, hand-coded, etc. But the content is controlled by a user that often knows nothing about HTML, and therefore a WYSIWYG is essential for a good online CMS product.
Great article, it's got me thinking more about what I want to do for the longer-term in my CMSs WYSIWYG. I've been checking on Dojo and other routes.
Percy February 2nd, 2006
Doh. I wish I could edit my comments.
If anyone reads this post and knows of a good WYSIWYG that is:
1) OpenSource
2) Active development (stays up-to-date pretty good)
3) Fairly easy to *competely* customize the UI of the editor
Please e-mail me at percyNOSPAM(at)majiclab.com
I'll have a blog one day. Really, I will...
Nate Klaiber February 2nd, 2006
Percy,
We are definitely on the same page. What you are building is the ideal solution in my mind - where a user can edit it all right in the interface, but not have to actually touch any code or worry about that.
Even working within the last system you built, I saw how easy it was - and how it fit perfectly with the organizational goals of easy maintenance/management.
I am definitely referring to more of the offsite WYSIWYG's.
Ill have to keep you posted if I find anything.