WYSIWYG e-mail

WYSIWYG e-mail and forum messages first appeared in the early 1990s on the CompuServe system. At that time CompuServe was accessed using terminals or third-party software such as TapCIS, NavCIS, OzCIS, ForCIS, and CompuServe's own CompuServe Information Manager. CompuServe was a 7-bit text based protocol and the user community resisted change towards binary protocols in order to maintain the diversity in client terminals capable of accessing the system. This was a similar constraint of other systems of the day and was a limiting factor in the form of content normally displayed.

In 1992, a third-party product called NavCIS introduced WYSIWYG e-mail to the service, featuring text styled with fonts, colors and emoticons. These styles were implemented via the use of an encoded text string appended to the end of a message. The extra "~NAVFONT..." data allowed the body of the message to be read normally by traditional CompuServe software and terminals. Compatible clients would render the text with the styles and emoticons intended by the author. This system was created by Jayson Minard and Kevin Minard who created the NavCIS product.

The appearance of content other than pure text caused an uproar in that it was perceived as corrupting the pure 7-bit text world of online services. This developed into distinct camps in the community: those that embraced it, those that ignored it or filtered it with their clients, and those that continued to express their desire for its demise and predicted it would fail.

As of 2005, styled text support is available in many instant messaging, email, forum, and wiki software packages.