Datasets:
Csplk
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THE.ASCII.ART.EMPORIUM

Dataset card Data Studio Files
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X sometimes used as a solid style filler or for connecting diagonal lines
Y used in connecting diagonal lines and in some styles also for vertical
lines and other things
Z not commonly used
a sometimes used as eyes or as a solid style antialiaser
b good for solid antialiasing (the pair is d)
c sometimes used as eyes/noses or as a solid style antialiaser
d a common solid style antialiaser
e sometimes used as eyes or as a solid style antialiaser
f sometimes used for slanted vertical lines
g not commonly used
h sometimes used as a solid style filler or antialiasing
i not commonly used
j useful for slanted vertical lines, sometimes antialiasing too
k used in slanted vertical lines in some line art styles
l for vertical lines in lineart, sometimes solid antialiasing too
m good for solid antialiasing
n good for solid antialiasing
o for lineart and solid antialiasing
p good for solid antialiasing (the pair is q), sometimes P is better even
though it doesn't have a symmetric pair
r sometimes used in lineart
s sometimes used for solid antialiasing
t sometimes used in lineart
u sometimes used in lineart
v sometimes used in lineart, though might suffer from the same problem as V
w sometimes used for solid antialiasing.
x for connecting lines in lineart
z not commonly used
4 Fixed-width fonts
ASCII art needs to be viewed on a fixed-width font. The fonts have differences,
so even though it's not a good idea to "optimize" your picture for a particular
font, it's completely ok to say "best viewed with a Lucida Console, preferably
a small font size and white on black". Most of the fonts I list are free of
cost and TrueType/OpenType, usable on eg. Windows, Linux and Macintosh. There
are also other choices for other operating systems, commercial font faces and
several fonts that can only be acquired with a particular piece of software.
4.1 Courier New
Courier New is the font that looks like a typewriter. It's very wide, which can
sometimes cause problems. It's not particularly aesthetical either. Most people
use it as their fixed-width font for web browsing.
4.2 MS-DOS font
The 80x25 DOS font is cool, especially for solid art, or maybe it's just the
white on black. The 80x50 one is less cool.
4.3 Topaz New
Topaz is the font used by the operating system of the Amiga computer and Topaz
New is a TrueType version of it. It's very narrow, but quite thick and well
suited for ASCII art. You can download it on the Internet.
4.4 Lucida Console
Lucida Console was introduced in Windows 98 and is nowadays the default font in
Notepad. It's an ordinary sans serif font, quite decent, but may have
unpleasant effects on some pictures (especially grayscale).
4.5 Fixedsys
Fixedsys is a nice sans serif font that used to be the default for Notepad.
Many people use it as their ASCII viewing font and it definitely isn't bad for
that. Fixedsys is a bitmap font so some Windows programs might not allow you
use it.
4.6 Arial Alternative
Arial Alternative looks like Courier bred with Arial, resulting in a wide,
relatively thick sans serif font, not exactly my cup of tea.
4.7 MS Gothic
MS Gothic has nothing to do with slitting wrists, it's actually meant for
displaying Japanese. It is sans serif and looks quite ok, but I'm not sure if
it's worth getting and installing just for ASCII art, as the file size is a
whopping four megabytes.
4.8 Andale Mono (aka Monotype.com)
Andale Mono is actually a commercial font, but it was apparently bundled with
some versions of Internet Explorer. This is a fixed-width font that actually
looks stylish, even though it might not be the best one for viewing ASCII art.
5 ASCII art software
5.1 JavE
Jave is the Photoshop of the ASCII world, but unlike Photoshop, it's free
software. It's also multiplatform because it runs on Java, so you need to
download the Java runtimes to get it to work. JavE offers many kinds of
painting modes, gradients, textures and brushes. Naturally it also gives you
the ability to copy and paste rectangles, flip and mirror pictures and. JavE
also contains a a watermark option, a picture to ASCII converter, camelizer, an
ASCII 3D modeller, FIGlet and many other features. You can even make ASCII
animations with it.