Csplk/THE.ASCII.ART.EMPORIUM · Datasets at Hugging Face

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4. How do I view ASCII art?

If a picture you see posted to this newsgroup looks like a complete
mess to you, don't panic. There are several reasons why it may look
weird.

□ If none of the pictures in the newsgroup look like what the sender
describes them as, then you're probably using a proportional font.
To view (and draw) ASCII art, you must use a fixed-width font --
one where all characters are the same width (like on a
typewriter). If you're not sure if your font is fixed-width or
not, check the following two lines and see if they're the same
length.

iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii\|
mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm\|

If they aren't, find the option in your news reader which lets you
specify which font to use. If you just have a choice between
proportional and fixed width, choose fixed width. If you have a
choice of which font to use, try different ones until you find a
fixed-width one (using the `i's and `m's above as a guide).
Popular fixed width fonts include Courier, Monaco, and Fixedsys;
anything with `fixed' or `terminal' will probably be fixed-width.

Some Internet Service Providers (ISPs) supply newsreaders to their
customers which, strange as it seems, don't allow them to use a
fixed-width font. If this applies to you, there's not much you can
do except to ask them for a newsreader which does, or switch ISPs.

□ 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).
□ If you still can't work out what the picture is supposed to be,
try reducing the font size (if you can), and moving a couple of
metres away. If it still looks unrecognizable, then it's probably
a problem with the news program used by the person who sent the
message -- or maybe it's just a really bad picture!

5. How do I draw my own ASCII art?

You don't need a special program to draw ASCII art with. It can be
drawn using any text editor, such as SimpleText or BBEdit in MacOS,
Notepad in Windows, nedit, vi, or pico in Unix, BEd or AZ in AmigaOS,
edit in DOS, or any of the various Emacs editors. You can use a word
processor to draw ASCII art, but remember: (1) use a fixed-width font
(see Question 4); and (2) using any special formatting (bold/italic/
coloured etc) is a waste of time, as it will be lost when you post the
picture.

There are some features of editors/word processors which can help when
drawing ASCII art.

□ 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 type
to another (eg all the ~s to "s).

But before you start, a word about fonts. For ASCII art you should use
a fixed-width font (see Question 4), because every type of computer
system is guaranteed to have one, and that after all is one of the
main reasons ASCII art exists -- because everyone can view it.
Different fixed-width fonts do vary slightly in the height of the
characters, but for most drawings this doesn't matter that much.

DON'T try to post pictures drawn in a proportional-width (ie
non-fixed- width) font: even if you specify the exact font you used,
the chances of other people being able to read it are pretty slim
(even `standard' proportional fonts such as Times New Roman can vary
in width from computer to computer).

The other thing to be aware of with fonts is the difference between
serif and sans serif. Here's roughly how an `m' looks in both:

__ __ __ __ __
\|/ \ / \ \|/ \ / \
\| \| \| \| \| \|
\| \| \| \| \| \|
_\|_ _\|_ _\|_ \| \| \|

Serif Sans serif

The serif version has little strokes, or serifs, at the end of most of
the main strokes, while the sans serif version doesn't (sans means
`without'). For example, Courier is a serif font, and Monaco is sans

4. How do I view ASCII art?

If a picture you see posted to this newsgroup looks like a complete

mess to you, don't panic. There are several reasons why it may look

weird.

□ If none of the pictures in the newsgroup look like what the sender

describes them as, then you're probably using a proportional font.

To view (and draw) ASCII art, you must use a fixed-width font --

one where all characters are the same width (like on a

typewriter). If you're not sure if your font is fixed-width or

not, check the following two lines and see if they're the same

length.

iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii|

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm|

If they aren't, find the option in your news reader which lets you

specify which font to use. If you just have a choice between

proportional and fixed width, choose fixed width. If you have a

choice of which font to use, try different ones until you find a

fixed-width one (using the `i's and `m's above as a guide).

Popular fixed width fonts include Courier, Monaco, and Fixedsys;

anything with `fixed' or `terminal' will probably be fixed-width.

Some Internet Service Providers (ISPs) supply newsreaders to their

customers which, strange as it seems, don't allow them to use a

fixed-width font. If this applies to you, there's not much you can

do except to ask them for a newsreader which does, or switch ISPs.

□ 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).

□ If you still can't work out what the picture is supposed to be,

try reducing the font size (if you can), and moving a couple of

metres away. If it still looks unrecognizable, then it's probably

a problem with the news program used by the person who sent the

message -- or maybe it's just a really bad picture!

5. How do I draw my own ASCII art?

You don't need a special program to draw ASCII art with. It can be

drawn using any text editor, such as SimpleText or BBEdit in MacOS,

Notepad in Windows, nedit, vi, or pico in Unix, BEd or AZ in AmigaOS,

edit in DOS, or any of the various Emacs editors. You can use a word

processor to draw ASCII art, but remember: (1) use a fixed-width font

(see Question 4); and (2) using any special formatting (bold/italic/

coloured etc) is a waste of time, as it will be lost when you post the

picture.

There are some features of editors/word processors which can help when

drawing ASCII art.

□ 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 type

to another (eg all the ~s to "s).

But before you start, a word about fonts. For ASCII art you should use

a fixed-width font (see Question 4), because every type of computer

system is guaranteed to have one, and that after all is one of the

main reasons ASCII art exists -- because everyone can view it.

Different fixed-width fonts do vary slightly in the height of the

characters, but for most drawings this doesn't matter that much.

DON'T try to post pictures drawn in a proportional-width (ie

non-fixed- width) font: even if you specify the exact font you used,

the chances of other people being able to read it are pretty slim

(even `standard' proportional fonts such as Times New Roman can vary

in width from computer to computer).

The other thing to be aware of with fonts is the difference between

serif and sans serif. Here's roughly how an `m' looks in both:

__ __ __ __ __

|/ \ / \ |/ \ / \

| | | | | |

_|_ _|_ _|_ | | |

Serif Sans serif

The serif version has little strokes, or serifs, at the end of most of

the main strokes, while the sans serif version doesn't (sans means

`without'). For example, Courier is a serif font, and Monaco is sans