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Wysiwyg has become so much the norm for software users that many people use the technology without realizing they are doing so.
History
Prior to the incorporation of wysiwyg technology in 1974, editing within software applications involved code or markup tags to tell the software how to generate the page or image. Knowing what the final product would look like involved switching back and forth from code to page.
Definition
Wysiwyg is a computing term which stands for what you see is what you get.
Function
When editing with wysiwyg technology within software, the image displayed precisely represents or simulates the appearance of the final product.
Advantages
The advantages of wysiwyg editing include: it allows the website editor to change font attributes, images, tables and even hyperlinks to a page with ease; and it reduces the amount of time needed to learn new applications through standardization of commands.
Disadvantages
Wysiwyg editing disadvantages include: the inability to assign alternate text labels to graphics in case they do not display properly; behind-the-scenes coding is bulkier than HTML, thus generating larger files for downloading; and wysiwyg editors do not allow for optimal search engine compatibility.
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