Web Design: WYSIWYG vs. HTML

English: Browser usage share on Wikimedia Foun...

Image via Wikipedia

The WYSIWIG Editor:
WYSIWYG (pronounced as “whizzy whig”), is a website editing program that enables a user who does not have a working knowledge of text coding such as HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP and other markup languages. The acronym means “What You See Is What You Get”. Such program features a “drag-and-drop” interface that lets anyone design websites like a pro.

Although the easy manageability of WYSIWIG benefits most beginners and inexperienced users, it also poses a few disadvantages that other web designers frown upon. The following can be found in the “cons” area of WYSIWIG:

· Websites designed using a WYSIWIG editor often experience compatibility issues with a few web browsers. After testing with popular web browsers, some of the sites will work fine but only a few designers will test for compatibility with other less popular browsers.
· With WYSIWIG, the text can become distorted, messy and redundant, causing them to overlap and making the page load slower.
· Some WYSIWIG editors fail to show text on top of the html file, which Google uses to determine search engine ranking.
· Content may not appear the same way in different web browsers.
· WYSIWIG often limits expandability to the program’s design interface.

HTML Editor:
HTML or HyperText Markup Language utilizes coding and can be very complicated for beginners. Professional web designers favour writing codes to create clean pages that are also conducive for search engine optimization.

If you plan on creating a website design from scratch, using HTML can be a great place to start. Although it requires knowledge on utilizing the language, it is definitely worth the time and effort. HTML is used to create dynamic web pages, making it ideal for people who want to design a website for interactive uses and other design possibilities. The options are endless when you use HTML and the flexibility in optimizing web pages for search engines makes it the best option. Compatibility is heightened as well as page loading is improved with clean codes that do not confuse web browsers.

WYSIWIG and HTML editors are both great web design tools and can be used together to accomplish more in designing websites. Although most web designers prefer HTML, WYSIWIG is a good option whenever you need to tweak your web page a little bit. WYSIWIG can accomplish in seconds what HTML coding would take a few minutes to attain. Therefore, it is possible to use HTML mostly in designing your website and then use WYSIWIG for quick fixes. The choice is up to you, whether you will use one over the other, as long as it accomplishes the site’s goals.

If you are looking for outside help with your website, check out web design Northern Ireland.


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