On Fri, 05 Dec 2003 10:30:11 +0000 MJ Ray mjr@dsl.pipex.com wrote:
The basic problem is still that HTML (properly xhtml) is not really capable of being WYSIWYG. Once you start throwing floating and fixed blocks around, you do need to have some idea of flowing and how layout works. Get the page layout right, or it will break for some people. Even I sometimes break things ;-) (especially on "free" sites where I experiment a little ;-) ). I will generally try to put it right.
Brilliant thread this. Have to agree with everything MJR says (otherwise he comes round and beats me up, but mainly because he's hit the nail on the head! :o) ).
I've had discussions like this several times in my career and I don't think there's any sort of general approach that works for everyone. It really is horses for courses.
Mark's point that HTML is a programming language is spot on (Hypertext Markup Language), as there does come a point where you have to get to grips with the actual code. For some languages this is sooner that others. e.g. imagine trying to create a WYSIWYG interface for perl? I bet someone's probably had a go. However I use Delphi and JBuilder regularly and you could regard the IDEs they have as a sort of WYSIWYG approach. It's even possible to put together simple applications just by connecting the components together (but often, to do anything more useful you still have to cut code at some point).
And I've yet to find any WYSIWYG tools that deals with CSS in a way that I've found useful.
But it does depend on who's doing the coding and for what purpose. If someone just wants to put together a simple home page for their personal web site then WYSIWYG tools are great because it hides the complexity of what's actually happening from them. And that's what they need. But if, like me, you are trying to put together interactive e-commerce websites all day then there comes a point where WYSIWYG just gets in the way and you need to build the HTML by hand. However in the initial phases it is often useful to use a WYSIWYG tool (if you can find one) to put a basic skeleton together just to speed up the initial coding of the basic code structures (and that applies to any programming language).
In the end it all depends on the background of the person using the language and what they are trying to achieve.
WYSIWYG = what you saw is what you got! :o)
Keith ____________ "Just keep banging the rocks together guys." - Douglas Adams