Original Usenet thread from alt.ascii-art, started 6 Jan 2002.
Ascii-Art Secrets #4.1Ascii-Art
alt.ascii-art
· 3 messages · 6 Jan 2002 - 12 Jan 2002
Ascii-Art Sectrets #4.1
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
this is the Ascii-Art FAQ version 3 (draft)
based on an unfinished work by Matthew Thomas
it is the most recent(v3.0.3.01) publication
altho ->i have edited it<- ... slightly
+------------------------------------------------
i accept no liability or responsibility
for it whatsoever
it is provided such that it may be helpful
in its current entirity and without checks
or validation of any links referenced
+------------------------------------------------
IMO it needs a re-write by a tech-writer since
some items appear to be repeated in places and
it uses too many words and not enough pictures
also doesn't mention the webrings
or how to add-to or update ADA
i have tagged a few other notes on the end
re: obascii ?
re: outlook ?
ze commandments
i have also split question 6 because it was trying
to answer two questions at once and re-arranged
question 11 for the same reason
==> To all that inhabit or haunt this newsgroup:-
does it answer your questions ?
is there anything you'd like it to say ?
does anyone ever read it ?
does it do anything ?
is it even worth posting it ?
if you have amendments, comments or suggestions
... then do so ... but entirely at your own risk
=======================================================================
| | : : :: \ \ ;;
J J : : :: \ \ ;;
L L : : __ _ _________ \ \ ;;
| | : : / |`| |`|___ ___|`-.\ \ ;;
J J : : / . | | | `-.| |`-. `-.`\ \ ;;
L L : : / /| | | | | | `-. `-\ \ ;;
| | : : / /_| | | | | | `-. \ \. ;;
J J : : / ___ | | | | | `-\ \`-.
L L : : / /`-.| | | |___ | | _ \ \-.`-._
| | : : /_/____|_|_|_____|_|_|_(_) _ \ \ `-._`:
J J : : |__________________________| `-. \ \-.,-'
L L : : _ _ _ ___ `-. `-. \ \ |
| | :_: /\(_ / ` | | _ /\ | ) | `-. `-. `-. \ \|
J J | | /--\_)\_,_|_|_-/--\|_\__|__ `-. `-._`-\ \
L L|_| |___________________________|`-. `-._ `-.\ \
| | | _____ ___ ___ `-.`-._ `-._ \ ,!`-.
J J | | ___|`/ _ \`-._/ _ \`--. `-._`--._`-'||`-'
L L | | |_ / /_\ \ / / \ \ `-._ `--. `-,+.`-._
__-------_ | _|`/ _____ \ \ \_/ /_._ `--._ `-.|X||-./
| |/|_|_./_/_____\_\_\_____/=\`-._ `-. |X||.|
| _,--------------.____ -========\_(A)`-.._ `-|X||\
Ool | _| ` |_`--. `-- |X||/
/VK | | | ALT.ASCII-ART: FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS / ||-.
=======================================================================
[Subject:] (FAQ) Welcome to ASCII art
=======================================================================
__ __ __ _,
\\ \\ / ___ '|| ___ ___ __ _ _ ___ _/|_ ___
\\ /\\ / //_\) || // \)// \\ ||'||'|| //_\) || // \\
\/ \/ \\__,_||_\\__,\\_//_||_||_||_\\__, \|_\\_//
___ ___ ____ ____
/\ (( / // | || || ___ _,_ _/|_
/_\\ \\ (( || || __\\'||\) ||
_/ _\\_/__)) \\__,_||_ _||_ ((_||_||_ \|_
Answers to frequently asked questions about ASCII art
Author: Matthew `mpt' Thomas (spiff @ 3dmail . com)
Version: 3.0.3.01
Last changed: 1999-05-15
Last changed: 2001-12-27 cjr
NOTE: Usenet discussion groups.
If you are new to Usenet, please read the messages in
news:news.announce.newusers before posting.
This FAQ may be posted to:
news:alt.ascii-art and
news:alt.ascii-art.animation.
news:alt.ascii-art.endless.blabla
news:alt.binaries.pictures.ascii
On the Web, the FAQ and other useful documents can be found in the
ASCII art Documentation Archive (ADA), at the following locations:
********************************************************
*** There is a wealth of information about ASCII Art ***
*** in the ASCII Documents Archive ***
International Mirrors
http://www.sci.fi/~iltzu/ascii/ada/ (Helsinki, Finland)
http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/q/ada/ (Lule�, Sweden)
http://voices.vossnet.co.uk/a/atkins/ada/ (Langley, UK)
http://website.lineone.net/~martin.atkins/ada/ (London, UK)
http://martweb.hypermart.net/ada/ (Seattle, USA) <==warning spyware
[alternative server sought for USA]
********************************************************
Contents
--------
1. What's going on here?
2. What is ASCII art?
3. What's ASCII, then?
4. What *isn't* ASCII art?
5. All the pictures look strange -- what's wrong?
6.1 What program do you use for ASCII art?
6.2 How do I draw my own ASCII art?
7. What should I know before posting pictures?
8. I like that ASCII picture -- can I copy it for myself?
9. I want a picture of something -- how do I ask for one?
10. Can someone do me some cool lettering?
11. How do I convert a picture to ASCII art?
11.1 I have a picture and I would like it Asciified?
12. Where do I find more ASCII art pictures and information?
A1. ObAscii?
A2. Outlook?
A3. Ascii-Art 10-Commandments
1. What's going on here?
--------------------------
You're probably reading this because it's been posted to
news:alt.ascii-art or news:alt.ascii-art.animation. If you're not,
jump in and take a look. In these Usenet groups people discuss
ASCII art, request ASCII art, post ASCII art, post improved versions
or variations of other people's ASCII art, and generally have fun.
2. What is ASCII art?
----------------------
ASCII art is any sort of pictures or diagrams drawn with the
printable characters in the ASCII character set. (For more about
ASCII, see Question 3.)
:-) Probably the most common ASCII art picture is the smiley
but it can get a lot more sophisticated than that.
Here's a small ASCII picture of a snow-scene paperweight,
drawn by Joan Stark:
____
.-" +' "-.
/.'.'A_'*`.\
|:.*'/\-\. ':|
|:.'.||"|.'*:|
\:~^~^~^~^:/
/`-....-'\
jgs / \
`-.,____,.-'
If this picture looks very strange and you can't really tell what it
is, don't panic -- see Question 5.
People use ASCII art for a number of reasons. Here are some of them.
* It is the most universal computer art form in the world --
every computer system capable of displaying multi-line text can
display ASCII art, without needing to have a graphics mode or
support a particular graphics file format.
* An ASCII picture is hundreds of times smaller in file size
than its GIF or BMP equivalent, while still giving a good idea
of what something looks like.
* It's easy to copy from one file to another (just cut and paste).
* It's fun!
3. What's ASCII, then?
-----------------------
ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange)
is a basic set of 128 numbered symbols which almost all kinds
of computer can display. Here are the ones that are used for
ASCII art:
032 [space] 048 0 064 @ 080 P 096 ` 112 p
033 ! 049 1 065 A 081 Q 097 a 113 q
034 " 050 2 066 B 082 R 098 b 114 r
035 # 051 3 067 C 083 S 099 c 115 s
036 $ 052 4 068 D 084 T 100 d 116 t
037 % 053 5 069 E 085 U 101 e 117 u
038 & 054 6 070 F 086 V 102 f 118 v
039 ' 055 7 071 G 087 W 103 g 119 w
040 ( 056 8 072 H 088 X 104 h 120 x
041 ) 057 9 073 I 089 Y 105 i 121 y
042 * 058 : 074 J 090 Z 106 j 122 z
043 + 059 ; 075 K 091 [ 107 k 123 {
044 , 060 < 076 L 092 \ 108 l 124 |
045 - 061 = 077 M 093 ] 109 m 125 }
046 . 062 > 078 N 094 ^ 110 n 126 ~
047 / 063 ? 079 O 095 _ 111 o
There are other characters in the set (with the numbers 000--031 and
127), but they can do bad stuff to Usenet readers, so PLEASE DON'T
USE THEM in your pictures (except for character 13, which is used
to insert a new line).
4. What *isn't* ASCII art?
---------------------------
ASCII art is a very simple medium, but people are forever trying to
make it more complicated. The following things are not ASCII art and
should not be posted to the ASCII art Usenet groups.
* ANSI, `extended ASCII', or `high ASCII' art. Many computer
systems have an extended character set of 256 or more
characters, based on the ANSI or Unicode character sets and
having the first 128 characters identical to ASCII. These
characters should not be used in ASCII art because many types
of computer system do not display them properly, and even those
that do do not display them in a standard way (for example, the
Windows ANSI character set is different from the Macintosh ANSI
character set).
* HTML art. HTML, the language used in Web pages, can be used to
add special effects such as colours, font size, and (ugh)
blinking text to ASCII art, and HTML can be read by some
Usenet readers. However, to many they just appear as a jumble of
<TAGS> and are totally unrecognizable, so you shouldn't post
HTML to Usenet. Put it on a Web page instead, and post the
address to news:alt.ascii-art. See
http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Studios/9334/asciionpage.htm
for instructions on how to do this.
* ASCII art animated using Java or JavaScript.
This relies not only on the newsreader being able to
display HTML, but also being able to run Java or JavaScript.
Put it on a Web page instead, and post the address to
news:alt.ascii-art.animation and news:alt.ascii-art
5. All the pictures look strange -- what's wrong?
--------------------------------------------------
If one particular picture posted to this group looks faulty, but the
rest of them look fine, then its most likely a problem with that
particular picture, or with the poster's Usenet program. But if
*all* the pictures look bad, then your Usenet reader may be set to
display messages in a proportional font.
ASCII art is created using a fixed-width font (like on a traditional
typewriter), because this is the only way to make it portable.
However, several Usenet readers now display messages in a
proportional font (where different characters are different widths).
To see what your program is doing, look at these two lines:
iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii|
WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW|
If they look the same length, you're using a fixed-width font and
all should be ok. If the second line is longer than the first, you
need to change your settings to use a fixed-width font.
In Netscape Messenger, this option is set in
Edit > Preferences > Mail & Newsgroups.
In Outlook Express, the option is set in
View > Options > Fonts [see section: More Outlook]
The AOL newsreader can not, at the time of writing,
display Usenet messages in a fixed-width font at all.
[i don't remember Forte Agent setting]
Detailed information on how to configure other Usenet readers is
available at the:
ASCII-Art Documentation Archive (see the beginning of this FAQ).
If all else fails, copy the text of the picture from
your program and paste it into a text editor (such as Notepad).
It's a hassle, but at least you'll get to see the pictures.
6.1 What program do you use for ASCII art?
------------------------------------------
The most common question asked on this subject is
"do you use a special program to make your pictures?".
The answer is usually no.
You can create ASCII art in any text editor, such as SimpleText or
BBEdit in MacOS, Notepad in Windows, nedit, vi, vim, or pico in
Unix, BEd or AZ in AmigaOS, edit in DOS, or any of the various Emacs
editors.
A 'quick-start' program for learning is javE, a Java program.
Some editors have features which make them more suitable for ASCII
art than others, but this is largely a matter of personal opinion.
Features which are both useful for ASCII art, and available in many
text editors, include the following.
* Overtype, also known as overstrike: removes the need for you to
constantly realign characters using the Backspace, Space, and
Delete keys. Try the Insert key if there is one on your
keyboard, or look in your program's Options or Preferences.
* Rectangular copy and paste: allows you to select rectangular
sections of text (not just rows or parts of rows). On programs
which have this feature, it is usually done by holding down a
key such as Ctrl while selecting text.
* Find/Change: allows you to change all the characters of one
value to another (eg change all the ~s to "s).
6.2 How do I draw my own ASCII art?
-----------------------------------
How to draw ASCII art: there is no better way to learn than to
practise. Draw your cat, your toaster, your musical instruments,
your partner, anything that will sit still long enough -- practice
makes, if not perfect, then at least pretty good. Whether you do
small drawings (less work involved) or large ones (easier to make a
drawing recognizable) is up to you.If you're interested in
tutorials, some are available from the ASCII-art Documentation
Archive.
One good way to begin drawing is to type a row of spaces for however
wide you want your picture, and then copy this row and paste it for
however many rows high you think the picture will get. Then turn
overtype on, stick your cursor somewhere in the middle, and begin
drawing. This can save you from many Delete, Backspace, Enter, and
space bar key-presses. Saving this empty `canvas' as a read-only
file for future reuse can save you even more time.
When drawing ASCII art, *please* remember that you must use a
fixed-width font (see Question 5). There is no such thing as a
completely standard font which is available on all computer systems,
but a picture drawn in one fixed-width font and viewed using another
is usually still very recognizable.
Even so, there are a few characters to watch out for:
^ caret -- differs in size depending on the font used
~ tilde -- appears in the middle of the line in some fonts, at the
top in others (try using - or " instead, depending on what you
want)
' apostrophe/single quote -- tilts southwest-northeast in some
fonts, is vertical in others (this also applies to the comma ,)
I is just a straight line in sans-serif fonts, but in serif fonts
there is a small small stroke (serif) at each end -- use the
vertical bar (|) instead.
# hash/pound -- a hash symbol on most computers, a pound
(currency) symbol on some old British ones
Finally, do not use any control codes, non-ASCII characters, or
word-processor-type formatting in your pictures. Not only are these
not ASCII art (see Question 4), but since they are particular to
your editor or computer system they will almost certainly not have
the intended effect on the systems the rest of us use (they may even
crash some Usenet readers).
7. What should I know before posting pictures?
-----------------------------------------------
It doesn't matter if your ASCII art isn't particularly good; we'd
like to see it anyway. We won't be rude about it (although you'd
better tell us what it is, or we might ask :-), but if it shows
potential, you may find that other people will `re-diddle' it --
change a few characters, make it a bit better, and re-post it.
HOWEVER, there are a few things you should check before you
post any piece of ASCII art.
* If there are a lot of almost-blank lines in the picture, then
the message is probably suffering from `wrapping'. This
wrapping may be being done by your newsreader; see if it has an
option called `wrap long lines' or similar, and make sure it is
turned off. If this doesn't work, then the wrapping was
probably done by the news program of the person who sent the
picture, in which case there's not much you can do -- everybody
else will be seeing the same thing.
* If there are a lot of < and > symbols in the picture, with
words like HTML, FONT COLOR, B, I, and so on inside them, then
the picture has been sent in HTML format [see Question 2], and
your newsreader does not understand HTML (most newsreaders
don't).
Microsoft's Outlook Express program has a number of flaws, including
* deleting spaces from the beginning of lines, and
* inserting the word `file://' in unexpected places
[see section: More Outlook]
which make it very difficult to send ASCII art properly. Whether
these are bugs or features we don't know, but we do know that
Microsoft would rather ASCII art as a medium just disappeared (see
http://cgi.pathfinder.com/time/digital/daily/0,2822,13735,00.html
for more information). A registry patch to fix some of the flaws
in Outlook Express is available from the ADA.
* Are you sending it as PLAIN TEXT? Some news programs,
particularly those built in to Web browsers, read and write
messages in HTML (HyperText Markup Language, the language which
Web pages are written in). HTML allows colours and (using
JavaScript) animations in ASCII art, but few newsreaders
support it, and those which don't will show a whole lot of
garbage text with your picture hidden inside it.
So if you have one of these HTML-sending programs, then select
the option which tells it to send messages as PLAIN TEXT only
and turn off "send MIME message".
If you have a picture which uses HTML for a particular
feature (such as colours or animation), put it on a Web page,
and post the URL of the page to alt.ascii-art
* Is it under 72 characters wide? Most news readers can only show
lines which are under either 72, 76, or 80 characters wide, so
if your picture is wider than 72 characters it may get wrapped
[see Question 4]. Also remove any unnecessary space characters
from the end of each line of the picture, to prevent lines from
being too long (and getting wrapped) without your realizing.
* If it IS over 72 charaters wide?
Then a warning in the subject line [wide:110] or whatever the
original picture width and Check Your Post Output Line-Wrap
settings. [see section: More Outlook]
Previous versions of this FAQ used a system to prefix posts
such as: [pic] [info] [req] which may be used as a guide
when providing warnings.
* Have you used any TAB characters or Control Codes?
Inserting control codes (ASCII characters 0 to 31) in a picture
can sometimes achieve interesting effect on your computer screen
or news reader, such as reversing text or changing its colour.
DO NOT post any of these pictures to alt.ascii-art,
(try alt.binaries.pictures.ascii)
for two reasons:
1. the effects that the control codes have on your news reader
are almost certainly going to be different from those on
the thousands of other news readers that other people use
2. on some news readers, control codes can cause messed up
displays, messages not appearing, or (in some cases) the
news reader crashing.
* If your first line starts with one or more spaces, stick a
dummy line (such as -- or .) above it, to prevent the spaces
from being ignored by your news program (this only applies to
some news programs, and only to the first line of the
message).
If you're not sure about whether your message will turn out ok,
post it to a test group (such as news:alt.test or news:misc.test)
first and make sure (using a different newsreader, if you can) that
you can read it ok.
[See Question 10 for advice on posting someone else's ASCII art.]
8. I like that ASCII picture -- can I copy it for myself?
----------------------------------------------------------
Don't assume that if somebody posts something to a Usenet group,
that gives you the right to use it however you like; copyright
laws still apply. For more information, see the article `Copyright
Myths FAQ: 10 big myths about copyright explained' in
news:news.announce.newusers. (It is also available at
http://www.clari.net/brad/copymyths.html.)
Generally, ASCII artists don't mind if you copy their pictures
and repost them or put them on your own Web site, as long as
you don't make any money out of them.
There are a few important conditions, however.
* If the picture contains a few letters in one corner which don't
seem to be part of the picture, they're the artist's initials.
DO NOT remove these initials -- would you cut away the part of
a Van Gogh painting containing his name? Leaving the initials
on is a small price to pay for being able to use the picture
for free.
* If you're going to use a picture in your signature file, or in
a place (such as a log-in screen) which means you're going to
be using it a lot, you should really e-mail the artist (or post
to the newsgroup, if you don't know their address) and ask for
permission, because otherwise people may get the mistaken
impression that you were the one who drew the picture.
As for posting other people's ASCII art, after a discussion in
news:alt.ascii-art the following rules were agreed upon:
1. If an ASCII ART picture has initials on it, leave them on when
posting it.
2. If an ASCII ART picture doesn't have initials on it, mention
that you didn't draw it when posting it.
3. If somebody posts a picture without initials and you have an
original copy with initials, feel free to repost the original
version. The repost ought not to be taken personally, as we all
know that ASCII art often loses proper credits. Responses to the
repost are not necessary.
One contributor, name of Krogg, suggested the following:
1.)Ultra polite:...ya make yer own ascii and use it.
2.) Very polite:...Ya contact the author and ask if ya
can use it...
3.) polite:...Ya use it but,you keep the Credits
in there like they should be.
4.) rude:...Ya use it and strip credits.
5.) Very rude:...Ya use it and claim that it Is
_Your_ very own creation...
You choose ... I think the default choice is #3 but you should
make up yer own mind....
9. I want a picture of something -- how do I ask for one?
----------------------------------------------------------
Give your request the subject `REQ:' or `[req]'
if you're looking for a picture of whatever, then in the
message describe more exactly what you're looking for.
Generally, the more specific you are, the more likely you are
to get some response
if you just say something like:
`can someone draw me a fish, please'
then you may not get many replies,
because people may not know what size or feel they're wasting
their time by drawing something you won't want.
If you don't have Web access, mention this fact,
otherwise you may get replies consisting only of URLs for the
kind of pictures you're looking for.
if someone is rude back to you directly then be patient
since it may just be a troll trying to wind you up.
[if you have a picture and want it Ascii-fied see 11.1]
10. Can someone do me some kewl lettering?
-------------------------------------------
There is a program called Figlet which does that sort of thing
automatically -- you type in `Jane Smith', and you get back
___ __,
( / ( o _/_ /
/ __, _ _ `. _ _ , / /_
_/_(_/(_/ /_(/_ (___)/ / /_(_(__/ /_
//
(/
in this and a whole lot of other fonts. The ASCII art text produced
by Figlet can be quite stunning, so it's best to try it first
before asking for help from the newsgroup.
The Figlet home page is at http://ianchai.50megs.com/figlet.html
and links to the FTP site ftp://ftp.internexus.net/pub/figlet/
where you can download versions of the program or source-code
for many different platforms.
You can run Figlet on the Web by going to one of the following sites
and choosing your text and options on the Web page. Different sites
offer different options (e.g. multiple fonts at once, justification,
and limited line length). Some of these sites also provide an e-mail
Figlet service for people with browsers which don't support forms.
* http://www.surfplaza.com/figlet/
* http://home.cern.ch/~rigaut/FigletJava.html
* http://schnoggo.com/figlet.html
* http://www.inf.utfsm.cl/cgi-bin/figlet/
* http://saigon.mit.edu/dinhyen/figlet/figlet.html
* http://www.ifi.unizh.ch/cgi-bin/bwagner/FIGLET/figlet.pl
* http://www.se.cuhk.edu.hk/~mcchau3/cgi-bin/express.html
* http://www.webserve.com/gateways/figletgateway.pl.
If Figlet doesn't produce the kind of results you want, THEN you
can post to alt.ascii-art with your request. Make sure that you
include:
* the fact that you have already tried Figlet, or don't have
access to it (otherwise you will probably just get told to use
it)
* a description of the kind of lettering you want, along with any
other symbols or logos which you would like incorporated into
it.
11. How do I convert a picture to ASCII art?
--------------------------------------------
There are computer programs available which convert graphics files
of a particular format (usually GIF) to ASCII art. They go by names
such as ascgif, gifa, gifscii, and gif2ascii. Do a Web search for
any of these programs to find places where you can download them.
Try:
gopher://twinbrook.cis.uab.edu/1A/atools.70
ftp://ftp.wwa.com/pub/Scarecrow/Gifscii/. <== dead-link
http://www.jave.de/jave/. <== new
[this text needs revising]
However, the output from these programs is often poor (fiddling
with the picture in an image-editing program beforehand may help).
11.1 I have a picture and I would like it Asciified?
----------------------------------------------------
In this case, post a request to news:alt.ascii-art
asking for someone to `asciify' it, but
PLEASE DON'T POST THE PICTURE ITSELF.
To save downloading time for people reading the messages,
if possible give the URL (Web address) of the picture instead.
If you saw the picture on a Web page, you can find out its URL by
right-clicking on it (on the Macintosh, right-clicking,
Ctrl-clicking, or holding down the mouse button) and selecting
`Open this image' (or its equivalent for your Web browser), then
copy the URL from the Location bar to your news program (make sure
you copy it exactly).
If the picture is not on a Web site anywhere, put it up on your own
site (if you have one), or get a friend to put it up on their site,
and post the URL to alt.ascii-art. If you can't do this, post your
request to alt.ascii-art and wait for an artist to reply, then
e-mail the picture to them.
12. Where do I find more ASCII art pictures and information?
------------------------------------------------------------
There are a number of ASCII art Usenet groups, but
news:alt.ascii-art
news:alt.ascii-art.animation
are the only English-speaking ones which are widely used.
news:alt.ascii-art is the main group, while
news:alt.ascii-art.animation
discusses various ways of animating ASCII art often using
Java, JavaScript or scrolling displays.
news:alt.ascii-art.endless.blabla [decription required]
news:alt.binaries.pictures.ascii [decription required]
To find out how to animate ASCII art using JavaScript, see
http://www.geocities.com/SouthBeach/Marina/4942/faq_hta.htm and
http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Studios/9334/animlesson.htm.
To find out how to animate ASCII art using Java, see
http://www.jave.de/jave/.
http://www.jave.de/javeplayer/.
Lots of ASCII artists put up libraries of their own and others'
ASCII art on their Web sites, as well as tutorials on how to draw
ASCII art:
The DMOZ Open Directory Project ASCII art sites
http://dmoz.org/Arts/ASCII/.
Allen Mullen has links to many of these sites at
http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/2695/links.htm.
THE END
This document may be freely copied as long as Matthew Thomas is
identified as the original author.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[This stuff yet to be resorted from the old FAQ]
X1. What should I know about signature files?
----------------------------------------------
A signature file (or `sig' for short; not to be confused with the
initials added to an ASCII picture) is a small, personalized text
file which an e-mail or news program adds to the end of every
message a person sends -- the equivalent of a letterhead for
dead-tree (paper) mail. Usually it contains little more than the
person's name, organization, and e-mail address, and an
inspirational quote of some sort; but some people like to
incorporate ASCII art into their signature files as well.
The biggest problem that this causes is the number of lines that
the signature file takes up. This is a topic which, despite its
lack of importance in relation to global warming, violence in
society, and so on, can be the subject of heated arguments. To be
brief, (almost) no-one will complain if your signature file is four
lines long or fewer -- and it is quite possible to draw good ASCII
pictures which are that small. Some examples are at:
* http://wwwtios.cs.utwente.nl/~kenter/sigs.html
* http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/7373/sigs.htm.
Some e-mail programs don't allow you to have a signature file which
is longer than four lines, while others just complain. Five or six
lines is usually acceptable, but any longer, and you're starting to
take the risk that your signature will be longer than some of your
e-mail messages; this wouldn't really make sense on paper, so it
isn't really acceptable in cyberspace either. The exception is in
messages posted to news:alt.ascii-art itself -- we're used to seeing
long sigs, so we won't complain.
But no matter what the length of your signature, make sure it's
fewer than 72 characters wide, otherwise it may end up a horrible
mess [see Question 6].
X2. What is ascii-animation?
=======================================================================
[Subject:] End of (FAQ) ASCII art
=======================================================================
[A1]
=======================================================================
[Subject:] ObAscii ?
=======================================================================
1. what does it mean ObAscii ? :
------------------------------
ObAscii = Obligatory Ascii
A funny way to remind people to put a drawing in their post.(b'ger)
Obligatory: [adj] compulsory (of a ruling) having binding force
Ascii: [slang] ascii-art picture
this means an ascii in every post!
(especially off-topic threads)
failure to comply may result in flaming
implys that if you don't include an ascii
in your post you deserve to get flamed
it is meant to be a new ascii-art which
takes longer but allows you to cool off
and collect your thoughts so you can say
all you need in one post
also it gives bystanders something to look at
while you climb on your soap-box and blab
(cjr)
2. The 1st ever! ObAscii :
------------------------
[snip - .hdr of Matthew Thomas]
[snip - 3rd party flame ]
BOLLOCKS!!!
I am staying out of this as much as possible, Colin, because I really
:.
[snip - rant/rave ]
:.
Anyway, I think a lot of this flaming would decrease if everyone was
required to post a (different) obligatory ASCII pic in each message --
at the very least, it would slow the flames down.
So, to start the trend, here's my ObAscii: the Statue of Liberty.
^
,' \
L""/
` |
J |
J L
| | . ,
| | `v_L.'
// ,>'--\'_
\`' \ - /-.
/ /`""|
),' `-
( ,-' \
) ,' ,' h
/ / / `)--..
\/ / \ <)
< , L<'
F/ _/ ,'
L ,-' \
| ___L
/ ( F
J ___,' L
| ,' |
F ,' |
(_,--..__ mt-2|_
,' `"`--.._\
,' / \
/ (_
Rediddles welcome
[snip - .sig of Matthew Thomas]
=======================================================================
[A2]
=======================================================================
[Subject:] more Outlook ?
=======================================================================
>
>>> It needs "how to get rid of blue-lines in OE" (I know how)
>>
>> How DO you?
>
>You press the decode button twice when viewing a blue-struck image.
>Because after a ROT13 OE will not parse links - 2 x ROT13 return
>everything to normal ,
>but without the blue lines.
>
>I created a button in my toolbar so I can do that quickly.
>
>It also helps to install OE 5.5 or 6.0 (or newer when they arrive)
>because the URL parsing
>code is slightly better and do not fall short on as many images as
>previous versions did.
>
How to stop Ms.Outlook giving wrapped output
if the ascii-art you are sending is wider than 72 characters:
1. Tools menu
2. Options
3. Send
4. Both of these Mail and News format
5. Plain text settings ____
6. Automatically wrap text at |____|
How to set your Outlook Express 5 to view ASCII art correctly:
1. On the TOOLS menu, click OPTIONS
2. Select the READ tab
3. Click the FONTS button near the bottom of the box
4. For the languages UNICODE, WESTERN EUROPEAN and USER DEFINED
set both the PROPORTIONAL font and FIXED-WIDTH font to
LUCIDA CONSOLE, and FONT SIZE to SMALLER
5. Click OK, then OK again.
How to set your Outlook Express 4 to view ASCII art correctly:
1. On the TOOLS menu, click OPTIONS
2. Select the READ tab
3. Click the FONTS button near the bottom of the box
4. For the languages UNIVERSAL ALPHABET, USER DEFINED and WESTERN
set both the PROPORTIONAL font and FIXED-WIDTH font to
LUCIDA CONSOLE, and FONT SIZE to SMALLER
5. Click OK, then OK again.
>NOTE : If LUCIDA CONSOLE is not available as a font, pick another
> from the list of available FIXED-WIDTH fonts.
>
>EXAMPLES OF FIXED WIDTH FONTS 1. ANDALE MONO
>COMMONLY AVAILABLE WITH WINDOWS: 2. COURIER NEW
> 3. LUCIDA CONSOLE
> 4. LUCIDA SANS TYPEWRITER
> 5. OCR A EXTENDED
>
>If you have followed the above steps correctly, you should now
>be able to view and create ASCII art as it should be.
>
[A3]
-------------------THE ASCII ART FAQ TEN COMMANDMENTS-------------------
\\\\`///
/ _ _| 1. Thou shalt read the FAQ.
(\'('\/') 2. Thou shalt not remove the
______/( >(__ initials from any ASCII art.
/`- \ \_=__| `\ 3. Thou shalt not claim ownership
/ /__( _____\ _____ of someone else's ASCII art.
/_ \.____ ," "." ",__ 4. Thou shalt read the FAQ.
| / _\__/_ - / \ 5. Thou shalt ask permission
\/ /____ \ASCII ART FAQ /// before using someone else's
) / / \__\ - | ASCII art.
'-.__|_/ ///| I VI | 6. Thou shalt not sell someone
\_ | | | else's ASCII art.
| | II VII | 7. Thou shalt read the darn FAQ.
\ | | | 8. Thou shalt not post someone
/ | III VIII | else's ASCII art without making
\ | | | clear that you didn't make it.
\_ | IV IX | 9. Thou shalt not assume that
\| | | ASCII art isn't art at all.
| V X | 10. Thou shalt read the FAQing FAQ.
|______b'ger______|
=======================================================================
--
__ ___ __
:::/ |_ | .`)::
::( (-| | | <:::
:::\__|___|_|_\::
CJRandall wrote:
> this is the Ascii-Art FAQ version 3 (draft)
In 6.1 it would be a good idea to add a link:
OLD:
A 'quick-start' program for learning is javE, a Java program.
NEW:
A 'quick-start' program for learning is javE, a free Java program
that can be obtained from http://www.jave.de.
In 11 the link to JavE is wrong:
OLD:
http://www.jave.de/jave/. <== new
NEW:
http://www.jave.de/. <== new
The same in 12.
Thanks for the work!
Markus
--
\-/ http://www.jave.de O_< Get JavE now! \-/
J|a|v|E /| J|a|v|E
/-\ Ascii-Art for eyeryone / \ - for free! /-\
On Sun, 6 Jan 2002 12:55:26 +0000, CJRandall <col...@shieldwolf.demon.co.uk> wrote: > There are other characters in the set (with the numbers 000--031 and > 127), but they can do bad stuff to Usenet readers, so PLEASE DON'T > USE THEM in your pictures (except for character 13, which is used > to insert a new line). And 10. Unix uses chr(10) natively, while DOS uses chr(13) + chr(10) and Macs use chr(13). I think that Usenet uses chr(13) + chr(10) "internally" (i.e. your newsreader changes your local line endings into that and the other person's newsreader changes that back into his local line endings for him), but I could be wrong. There's also chr(9), the tab character, but that should probably also be avoided since it can give different results on different terminals (especially when art containing tabs is quoted). > In Netscape Messenger, this option is set in > Edit > Preferences > Mail & Newsgroups. > In Outlook Express, the option is set in > View > Options > Fonts [see section: More Outlook] > The AOL newsreader can not, at the time of writing, > display Usenet messages in a fixed-width font at all. > [i don't remember Forte Agent setting] Message > Fixed Pitch Font You can set up your font preferences under Options > Display Preferences > Fonts > Fixed-Pitch Body Options > Display Preferences > Fonts > Variable-Pitch Body individually for each language you have configured (there's a drop-down menu in the 'Fonts' tab). For Free Agent, use "Options > General Preferences > Fonts" instead of "Options > Display Preferences > Fonts". > I is just a straight line in sans-serif fonts, but in serif fonts > there is a small small stroke (serif) at each end -- use the > vertical bar (|) instead. I'd delete the "small small"; on the font I use for newsreading (Courier New), the serifs on a capital I are nearly as wide as the character cell. > The Figlet home page is at http://ianchai.50megs.com/figlet.html > and links to the FTP site ftp://ftp.internexus.net/pub/figlet/ > where you can download versions of the program or source-code > for many different platforms. Somebody said here recently that JavE can also produce figlets; should that be mentioned here? > Some e-mail programs don't allow you to have a signature file which > is longer than four lines, while others just complain. Should that be "Some newsreaders don't allow you ..." ? Cheers, Philip -- Philip Newton <nos...@gmx.li> That really is my address; no need to remove anything to reply. If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.
Related ASCII art in the Gallery
Explore these categories from our collection of 11,000+ artworks:
Make your own ASCII art
Turn images, text or 3D into ASCII, or draw your own – right in your browser.
About this thread.
These messages were posted publicly to the newsgroup
alt.ascii-art
in 2002 and are mirrored here unchanged as part of the Historic Archives – only email addresses are masked.
The artwork and text belong to their original authors: if you copy a piece, keep the artist's initials or signature intact and credit them where you can.
Are you one of the authors? Contact us to get your posts attributed, connected to your artist profile, or removed.
Report this message
Help us keep the archive clean and accurate. Reports are reviewed by a person – nothing is changed automatically.