WYSIAYG
 /wiz'ee?ayg/, adj.

    Describes a user interface under which ?What You See Is All You Get?; an
    unhappy variant of WYSIWYG. Visual, ?point-and-shoot?-style interfaces
    tend to have easy initial learning curves, but also to lack depth; they
    often frustrate advanced users who would be better served by a
    command-style interface. When this happens, the frustrated user has a
    WYSIAYG problem. This term is most often used of editors, word processors,
    and document formatting programs. WYSIWYG ?desktop publishing? programs,
    for example, are a clear win for creating small documents with lots of
    fonts and graphics in them, especially things like newsletters and
    presentation slides. When typesetting book-length manuscripts, on the other
    hand, scale changes the nature of the task; one quickly runs into WYSIAYG
    limitations, and the increased power and flexibility of a command-driven
    formatter like TeX or Unix's troff becomes not just desirable but a
    necessity. Compare YAFIYGI.

What You See Is All You Get
WYSIAYG

    (WYSIAYG) /wiz'ee-ayg/ Describes a user interface
   under which "What You See Is *All* You Get"; an unhappy
   variant of WYSIWYG.  Visual, "point-and-drool interfaces"
   are easy to learn but often lack depth; they often frustrate
   advanced users who would be better served by a command-style
   interface.  When this happens, the frustrated user has a
   WYSIAYG problem.

   This term is most often used of editors, word processors,
   and document formatting programs.  WYSIWYG "desktop
   publishing" programs, for example, are a clear win for
   creating small documents with lots of fonts and graphics in
   them, especially things like newsletters and presentation
   slides.  When typesetting book-length manuscripts, on the
   other hand, scale changes the nature of the task; one quickly
   runs into WYSIAYG limitations, and the increased power and
   flexibility of a command-driven formatter like TeX or
   Unix's troff becomes not just desirable but a necessity.

   Compare YAFIYGI.

   (1999-03-03)