WYSIWYG editors and extraneous code

[James Klock]

>You only say that because it actually seems to do what its users agree is
>"the job."  [...]
>Bear in mind that HTML (which really is a simple language, even with all the
>fluff that's been added to it) is only the tip of the iceberg on the
>forthcoming Web.  There's Java, JavaScript, HTTP, XML, CSS, CORBA and IIOP,
>LDAP, and one or more flavors of Dynamic HTML, to name a few.   [...]
>And every step along the way, there will be editors and development
>platforms, and every time we'll have some that seem to get the job done, but
>are pulling all sorts of proprietary, let's-stick-it-to-the-other-guy tricks
>under the hood.  

I promised myself I wouldn't get into this one, but I would like to say
that I think the thing that is being largely overlooked in this discussion
is that bloated code fills the bandwidth faster.  With HTML, file sizes
tend to be relatively small, so nobody minds.  But as the kinds of
information being distributed throught the Internet become more
sophisticated, the extra 20% overhead of bloated code has real potential to
choke the wires (especially that teeny little 28.8Kbd line going to the
back of the average end-user's home computer...)
If we set the precedent now of accepting hideous bloated code, we're
setting ourselves up for a much more miserable tomorrow...

James