Ever think you’d be reading about a “WYSIWYG”? Don’t think too highly of yourself, it stands for “what you see is what you get” and is pronounced “wiz-e-wig”. WYSIWYGs refer to different programs such as Adobe’s Dreamweaver and Microsoft Frontpage to make websites. Many people like them because they show a rough idea of what your website will look like before they go live for the world to see.

If you are having a design firm or someone in Site Source 101 designing your site, you do not need to pay $400 for one of these products. (Let me save you some time and a lot of frustration and tell you Frontpage is a piece of trash and Dreamweaver is the way to go in this situation).

But if you choose not to learn a WYSIWYG, its kind of like having a company and relying on the cashier to be responsible for turning off and on the lights. You basically are completely reliant on the design firm or person helping you to actually...help you. If something goes wrong with the site, or your customers are emailing you saying there is a major typo, it can only be fixed if someone does it for you.

Dreamweaver is about like learning how to use Microsoft Word for the first time. It is weird, has a lot of little ‘tricks’ to learn, but after you get it, it makes total sense. Think of it like that and you’ll have no problem picking it up pretty quickly. If you’re a complete luddite (someone who is technically challenged and has no interest) you need to find someone you trust to do it for you. A big design firm can easily drop you as a client if you’re not spending enough every month, and the kid at church might want to go on vacation or have homework.

For best results: buy Dreamweaver, learn it.