It's always nice to be able to create documents simply by
typing and/or clicking in a familiar setting. And that's the
attraction of WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) Web
authoring tools. When you type your content, the document more or
less appears on the screen as it would in a Web browser. WYSIWYG
editors have a word processor-like interface in which you type
text and insert graphics. Press a few buttons and type a few
words and, voila, instant Web page
Anyone can use a WYSIWYG HTML editor, not just those who know
HTML. They're so easy to use that if you can use a word
processor, you can use one. Any WYSIWYG application worth its
salt also has some form of site management tool and a set of
wizards for creating basic pages, tables, and frames.
Manipulating graphics is also easy. Just set and insertion point
and click a toolbar or menu item.
On the downside, WYSIWYG editors are often big, gobbling large
amounts of hard drive space, memory, and systems resources. Most
WYSIWYG editors allow you to manipulate the underlying HTML code,
but they do strange things with what you enter at the code level.
Some mangle perfectly good HTML tags. Others embed superfluous
content in the header or body of your pages.
Text-Based Editors
When I say "text based", I'm referring to both
dedicated HTML editors and plain old text editors. A number of
people have created sites using only text editors like Notepad,
SimpleText, or Emacs. Others use HTML editors that let them
automatically insert HTML tags with a mouse click. But both have
one thing in common: they require you to know HTML. You don't
have to be an expert, but in order to use a code-based editor you
must have a basic knowledge of HTML tags.
With most HTML editors, you don't have to manually enter
the necessary tags. Usually, when a program starts it will
automatically set up the page's skeleton. From there, you
enter your text. To insert tags, simply highlight some text and
click a button or select an option from a menu. It really is that
simple. Many are loaded with wizards, that automatically create
tables, frames and lists, and insert links and graphics.
As can be expected, HTML editors are a mixed bag. Some are
nothing more than a glorified version of the Notepad or
SimpleText editor that come with Windows and the MacOS. Others
are full-featured HTML editing environments that not only have
all the tools you need to build Web sites but also come with
built-in previewers. You really have to take care and work with
as many as possible.