WYSIWYG vs. Learning HTML

WYSIWYG stands for “What You See Is What You Get”. This is the term used for programs like FrontPage and Dreamweaver where you can create and edit webpages without knowing any HTML at all. You get a graphical interface, similar to Word or PageMaker, where you can lay out the elements of your page and apply formatting to your text. Then when you save it, the program converts it into HTML.

The benefits are clear: it's much quicker than learning HTML. There are downsides as well, however. The first is that these programs cost money, sometimes lots of money. The second is that the code they produce can be VERY messy and redundant, which means that your pages will take longer to load and be almost impossible to edit by hand later, because of the unintelligible way these programs write code. Lastly, regardless of the program you use, the pages themselves will still be written in HTML, which is a language with various strengths and weaknesses. If you learn the code itself you will understand its restrictions and how to use it most effectively to do what you want to do. You will also learn how to create clean and efficient code that loads quickly and consistently across browsers.

If you are creating your web pages from scratch and plan to design and maintain them yourself, it is recommend you learn HTML and use it exclusively.

If you are planning to hire a professional to design the site and then update and maintain it yourself using templates or a similar system, then WYSIWYG editors can be quite useful. This is especially the case if you are strapped for time. For the most part these editors will only insert their redundant code around where you edit the pages, and will leave the basic template alone. And if you are only making minor text changes, learning HTML is not really necessary. But at the same time, learning the amount of HTML that it takes to make minor text changes is quite minimal, and then you can save money on editing software.

If you have time or the interest, learn at least the basics of HTML. It will help you make a better site and understand what is going on when things go wrong.

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