The What You See Is What You Get WYSIWYG Editor

The ‘what you see is what you get’ editor has to be one of the most widely used html editing tools of the web. From the simplest document editor, to advanced web design and development frameworks, much like iPhones, there’s an application for that.

With such a long and broad lineage we will do a little ‘WYSIWYG-Wiki Mojo’ and define the root of our much favored text and code editing tool, the mighty WYSIWYG Editor!

Ancient History

WYSIWYG (pronounced ‘wizi wig’), is an acronym for What You See Is What You Get. The term is used in computing to describe a system in which content displayed during editing appears very similar to the final output, which might be a printed document, web page, slide presentation or even the lighting for a theatrical event.

The phrase was originally a catch phrase popularized by Flip Wilson‘s drag persona “Geraldine” (from Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In in the late 60s and then on The Flip Wilson Show until 1974), who would often say “What you see is what you get” to excuse her quirky behavior.

Modern Meaning

WYSIWYG implies a user interface that allows the user to view something very similar to the end result while the document is being created. In general WYSIWYG implies the ability to directly manipulate the layout of a document without having to type or remember names of layout commands.

Now that we understand the amusing roots of our tool of choice, we will now get to the good part, the best WYSIWYG editing tools.

Browser Based WYSIWYG Editors

Amaya: The W3C’s Editor/Browser

http://www.w3.org/Amaya/

Amaya is a Web editor, i.e. a tool used to create and update documents directly on the Web. Browsing features are seamlessly integrated with the editing and remote access features in a uniform environment. This follows the original vision of the Web as a space for collaboration and not just a one-way publishing medium. Amaya started as an HTML + CSS style sheets editor. Since that time it was extended to support XML and an increasing number of XML applications such as the XHTML family, MathML, and SVG. It allows all those vocabularies to be edited simultaneously in compound documents. Amaya includes a collaborative annotation application based on Resource Description Framework (RDF), XLink, and XPointer. Visit the Annotea project home page. Amaya is an open source software project hosted by W3C.

The SeaMonkey® Project

http://www.seamonkey-project.org/

Web-browser, advanced e-mail, newsgroup and feed client, IRC chat, and HTML editing made simple — all your Internet needs in one application.

Free Software Based WYSIWYG Editors

KompoZer: Easy Web Authoring

http://kompozer.net/

KompoZer is a complete web authoring system that combines web file management and easy-to-use WYSIWYG web page editing. KompoZer is designed to be extremely easy to use, making it ideal for non-technical computer users who want to create an attractive, professional-looking web site without needing to know HTML or web coding.

Nvu: Web Authoring Software

http://net2.com/nvu/

Nvu (pronounced N-view, for a “new view”) is a complete Web Authoring System that combines web file management and easy-to-use WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) web page editing. Nvu is designed to be extremely easy to use, making it ideal for non-technical computer users who want to create an attractive, professional-looking web site without needing to know HTML or web coding.

Trellian WebPage

http://www.trellian.com/webpage/index.html

Trellian WebPage allows you to create your own web pages without having to learn complex scripting languages. WebPAGE’s WYSIWYG interface makes editing pages as easy as using your favorite word processor.

Code Based WYSIWYG Editors:

CKEditor: WYSIWYG Text and HTML Web Editor

http://ckeditor.com/

CKEditor is a text editor to be used inside web pages. It’s a WYSIWYG editor, which means that the text being edited on it looks as similar as possible to the results users have when publishing it. It brings to the web common editing features found on desktop editing applications like Microsoft Word and OpenOffice.

FCKeditor: WYSIWYG Editor

FCKeditor has been around since 2003 it has built a strong user community becoming the most used editor in the market, accumulating more than 3,5 million downloads. In 2009 renaming the editor, bringing to the light a next generation solution: CKEditor 3.0. CKEditor inherits the quality and strong features people were used to find in FCKeditor, in a much more modern product, added by dozens of new benefits, like accessibility and ultimate performance.

OpenWebware Cross-Browser WYSIWYG Editor

http://www.openwebware.com/

Open Source Cross-Browser What You See Is What You Get Web Editor. Setting up openWYSIWYG is so easy, you can quickly turn any <textarea> into a powerful WYSIWYG editor with just a few simple lines of code. Packed with most every rich text editing feature you need, openWYSIWYG gives you total control over formatting your text.

TinyMCE: Javascript WYSIWYG Editor

http://tinymce.moxiecode.com/

TinyMCE is a platform independent web based Javascript HTML WYSIWYG editor control released as Open Source under LGPL by Moxiecode Systems AB. It has the ability to convert HTML TEXTAREA fields or other HTML elements to editor instances. TinyMCE is very easy to integrate into other Content Management Systems

Xinha: Open Source Online HTML Editor

http://xinha.webfactional.com/

Xinha ‘The Community-built Open Source Online HTML Editor’ is a powerful WYSIWYG HTML editor component that works in all current browsers. Its configurability and extensibility make it easy to build just the right editor for multiple purposes, from a restricted mini-editor for one database field to a full-fledged website editor.

From desktop tinker to dev-server coding madman, now you have some serious contenders to make your ‘top wysiwyg editor’ of choice. Let us know your favorite or your experiences so we can all compare notes.