How can WYSIWYG editors directly edit HTML?

Question

I was reading an old Lifehacker article titled, "Five Best WYSIWYG HTML Editors", and it got me thinking.

It seems to me that the phrase WYSIWYG editor that can also directly edit HTML is a contradiction. "WYSIWYG" means, as most of you probably know, "What You See Is What You Get". But direct HTML editing is, by definition, actually WYSIWYM ("What You See Is What You Mean").

So how can something that has both WYSIWYG and WYSIWYM functionality be both WYSIWYG and WYSIWYM software. Just because I talk like a Human and have social skills like a Lego person doesn't mean I'm both a Human and a Lego person.

Or are the terms not black-and-white like it's so often described?

Answer 1

WYSIWYG HTML editors output HTML, but the editing of the document is WYSIWYG. Its no different than editing a document in Microsoft Word and saving as HTML. You arent editing in HTML, but the output is HTML.

Answer 2

CKeditor will clear up the disconnect here (plus their forum is great).
You may have become confused because of other markup and the way Microsoft Expressions used to have different view modes.