WYSIWYG systems almost always have some weird edge cases that are hard for users to reason about.

· Bits and Bobs 3/10/25
  • WYSIWYG systems almost always have some weird edge cases that are hard for users to reason about.
    • The fundamental reason is because the view is a reduced-dimension visual projection of the underlying semantic model.
    • In reducing dimensions, you must lose some of the nuance.
    • It's possible for there to be two visually equivalent view states that are different semantic states.
    • That means when a user modifies the visual projection, the system sometimes has to make judgment calls about how to resolve the ambiguity in the underlying semantic model.
    • Often there are good enough rules of thumb that work as intended most of the time… but there are always possibilities for nasty surprises lurking.
    • If the system makes the wrong guess, the user might not even notice it for some time.
      • The projection of the incorrect state is the same as the projection for the correct state.
      • There's no visual clue it got it wrong until later when the difference becomes obvious, but by then it's confusing and harder to correct.

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