WYSI(not always)WYG

Most of our clients appreciate having a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) Editor for managing their website's page content. These allow users who are familiar with the layout of document editing programs, like Word, to use a similar means to stylize and lay out the page. The WYSIWYG Editor actually translates these styles and layouts into HTML, which is read by the browsers.

One of the biggest problems with WYSIWYG Editors is that they don't always display what you see. Here are some common problems that we have addressed with clients:

1. Copying and pasting from Word - This is usually the quickest way to break the layout of your page. Microsoft Word adds a number of invisible tags and element commands that can be transferred into the WYSIWYG text area. The problem is that when this is transitioned into HTML, ALL the styles change. And not only to the styles change, but the HTML becomes cluttered with tags around each word. This is a nightmare for re-editing the text into a work-able format and it is generally recommended to use a "Paste from Word" button in your WYSIWYG Editor to strip out all the formatting.
2. Editor Styles - By default, most of these editors come packaged with their own styles. In order to get these closer to being a true WYSIWYG editor, you must add additional styles for nearly every tag to an editor-specific style sheet.
3. Browser Incompatibilities - Many browsers handle or display WYSIWYG Editors in different ways. You may have your editor tested and configured for FIrefox and IE8, but if your client is using IE7, we have seen problems like the WYSIWYG not showing up, adding large and unnatural spaces, or fonts looking completely different. More common WYSIWYG Editors have more extensive browser testing and are less likely to have these bugs, but they still exist and you should be aware of them.

These are what I consider the biggest game-stoppers to using WYSIWYG Editors, but my editor of choice is CKeditor. I prefer that because it makes #2 a lot more easy to configure, and it is a widely used editor and has been heavily tested for #3. 

Do you use a specific WYSIWYG Editor? What are the problems that you have found?