What You See Is What You Get

jargon (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 rarely-attained; 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)