Best Desktop WYSIWYG

I've seen wix and weebly - but I want to have possession of my files. I feel like WIX will always have you since they have your files. - Can anyone recommend a desktop program? I am not interested in Dreamweaver - I have that and I don't have the time to go back to hard/hand coding. Plus I am not afraid of paying some $$ for easy to use and powerful tool.
Thanks

 

Putting the terms "best" and "WYSIWYG" together in the same sentence is a bit like saying "Best Anal Rape".

They are incapable of semantic markup due to their very nature being "visuals first" -- putting the LAST part of the process at the beginning. Therein everything they vomit up is uselsss incompetent TRASH that flips the bird at usability, accessibility, and any ACTUAL concepts of design. The only thing "powerful' about them is their ability to dupe the ignorant into THINKING they can make a website, and the only thing about them that can be called professional grade tools are the people who promote their use.

Suck it up, and make the time to code, or get someone to code for you. ALL any "WYSIWYG" is going to do is bend you over the table and take a walk up your strada chocolatta.

But let me tell you what I REALLY think.

 

Thanks for wasting your time with your post -
I'm conducting research for a client who wants to bring another wysiwyg to market. This forum is not the only place
my team and I are looking for feedback, differentiation and advice from end users etc.
I know how to code - been doing it since Atari made computers with cassette tapes as floppy disks. (yes that's real).
I like you don't like or use that type of software - but the clients always pay & on time.

For every one of use who knows code, who can read it like the Matrix - there
are 20k+ Civilians or Noobs who still revert back to the old drag and drop.

So the question still stands - If anyone who reads this post still uses WYSIWYG
Tell me which one you think is the best and why.

 

So basically you lied in your initial post. An auspicious start indeed. :/

If you wanted input on MAKING better WYSIWYGS you should have asked that, not pretended you were looking for one to use in the here and now.

When you said you didn't want to go back to "hand coding" I assumed you didn't know how, since anyone qualified to write a single line of HTML would realize that utter trash WYSIWYGs vomit up; hence why they are universally trash. Seriously, if you understand HTML and CSS, their purpose, and how they work, the ONLY reason you'd be interested in making tools like "Site Builders" or WYSIWYGS is that your entire purpose is to scam people. I would prefer to chalk this up to ignorance over malice.

Whereas I had static RAM with a battery backup with my COSMAC Elf -- where the user interface was a row of toggle switches, a push-button, and 8 LEDS as I couldn't afford a two digit segmented LED display at the time. Don't try to wave your "history" of computer use around me boy.

The what and the what? I would hope clients would pay, even if inside a year they either go out of business or need to have the money pit of trash vomited up by a WYSIWYG redone from scratch.

... and in the process screw themselves over with non-semantic markup, flipping the bird at accessibility norms, overburdening any CMS the bloated trash code gets sliced up into, failing to maintain separation of presentation from content meaning a complete lack of graceful degradation, etc, etc, etc. You know, the stuff that's now open season on ALL websites in terms of legal woes since the US Supreme Court refused to hear the Domino's case?

But to that end, you know what I'd like to see out of a WYSIWYG?

1) SEMANTIC MARKUP with logical document structure. Aka make it advise/lead people down the road of learning what headings are, how to use them, etc, etc.

2) Separation of presentation from content. This means no presentational use of tags, ID's, or classes. Say what things ARE, NOT what you want them to look like!

3) Use modern CSS techniques to kick most of the JavaScript to the curb. Don't use JS to do HTML or CSS' job.

4) Semi-fluid elastic responsive layout. If I have to explain what those three things are, you shouldn't be making tools for web development.

5) Make certain it keeps telling people that there is MORE to a website than just what it looks like to YOU. Non-sighted users, search engines, visually impaired, physically impaired... HTML is supposed to be for everyone, not the L33t club of the perfectly sighted perfectly able on the perfect size resolution display.

But again, I don't think a WYSIWYG can do those things since they are by their very nature VISUAL. Hence why everything built with them is usually inaccessible broken pixel metric messes that tell large swaths of users to go F*** themselves. The very notion of starting out with appearance before you even have semantic markup of content of value -- or a reasonable facsimile of future content is utterly and totally back-assward.

Hence why in the age of SEO and accessibility concerns -- the latter often with legal ramifications -- WYSIWYGS's and "Site Builders" have fallen by the wayside remaining the province of nubes, rubes, and suckers who just don't know any better, and hope they can get away with a sleazy shortcut out of apathy, ignorance, and wishful thinking.

MIND YOU, I'd LOVE to see some form of tool to speed these things for static site construction, but I just don't think it can be done. It's a completely upside-down approach to site-building that seems to exist for people who don't know what a website is, and don't give a flying purple fish about anything more than "bling bling what it looks like on YOUR display".

Therein the biggest woe in such site building tools. WYSIONWEEG. What You See Is Often Not What Everyone Else Gets. Nor should it be...

 

Auspicious yes - but the reality is:
People often give answers depending on who they interpret the interviewer to be.
I don't make the market - I support my customers' and you are right - there are better ways out there.
Thanks for the feed back - and thanks for the flashback - I still have some "Punch Cards" that we show off every
now and then.

 

like I mentioned after the first post:
People often give answers depending on who they interpret the interviewer to be.
After you start working with focus groups - you'll realize this.

 

OK - So for all the nit picky folks -
1. What I wrote isn't bullshit - Everything I wrote is true - that is how I feel and just because I can / will use the responses from this population doesn't change the fact that:
-I've seen wix and weebly - but I want to have possession of my files.
-I feel like WIX will always have you since they have your files.
-I am not interested in Dreamweaver - I have DW and I don't have the time to go back to hard/hand coding.
-Plus I am not afraid of paying some $$ for an easy to use and powerful tool. (or in my case paying Coders/DB Admin/UI/Designers)

So let's do this,
If you decide to respond please tell me:
1. What you want from a wysiwyg tool that we're not getting now.
2. What wysiwyg are you currently using? (Online html drag & drop /wix/weebly or tools like mobilise and divi (wp).
3. What is your experience level - total Noob and proud of it or Grandpa Fortran
4. What is your cost pain point if you found a tool that was truly drag and drop + easy publish?
3. Do you really want a desktop version or is an online pay-per use / subscription / even inexpensive onetime use option your preferred?

If you want to just write a smart ass response - really - just save your time.
My employees and I have real world shit happening right now - as does the rest of the world - create good vibes, not waves!!!

 

I am probably the most technically challenged member on this site but.....I would recommend that you have a look at either:
SQUARESPACE or, SITE123