Term: WYSIWYG [What You See Is What You Get]

WYSIWYG is a acronym for What You See Is What You Get.

The term mostly derives from and is associated with the transition from character-mode computer programs to graphic interfaces.

In character-mode document editors, for example, the encoding for the first line of this definition might be:

<strong>WYSIWYG</strong> is a acronym for
<strong>W</strong>hat <strong>Y</strong>ou
<strong>S</strong>ee <strong>I</strong>s
<strong>W</strong>hat <strong>Y</strong>ou
<strong>G</strong>et.

What you see (the raw HTML encoding) is most definitely not “what you get” when that code is actually displayed.

A “WYSIWYG editor” allows the author to edit the code in a form that matches the eventual result – what the author sees is what he eventually gets in his document.