Re: [SUGGESTION] Amendment to a.a-a FAQ re: HTML

Dave Bird---St Hippo of Augustine (new...@xemu.demon.co.uk) wrote:

: In article <6hvhk7$5p0$1...@tron.sci.fi>, Ilmari Karonen <ilt...@sci.fi> writes:
: > Q: How can I put ascii art 
:      into HTML for webpages? should I put HTML on the newsgroup?

I already added the words "Remember NOT to post HTML in the newsgroup."
into the second entry. Do I really have to do the same here? (especially
as IIRC that question has a FAQ entry of its own)

: > HTML version:
: ><PRE>
: >      ____     _____
: >     /  \  _.-'_.-'
: >     \  _\/   _/
: >   ___)/   __&lt;
: >  &lt;'-;:\_  _\
: >      '; \_\
: >       >/-,\
: >     ""`  |_\ snd
: ></PRE>
:   This is a text newsgroup. While nobody will object to a couple of tags
:   at the beginning and end, the vast majority of the picture should look
:   like 100% readable text: if it looks like a load of HTMLtags, you will
:   get flamed by people whose newsreaders don't render it. 

The original question was "How can I put ascii art on a WWW page?" I won't
object to <PRE></PRE> around a post either, but *why on earth would they
be needed* since "Content-Type: text/plain" seems to work just fine? (Ok,
so some newsreaders are configured to use a proportional font. I think
we've had that discussion enough times already.)

And not using character entities where needed in HTML is a Bad Thing
indeed, but I'm sure you knew that. (Some obviously don't.)

: > Q: How can I change the font 
: >in which ascii art is shown on my WWW page?
: > A: There are several ways but not every browser supports any of them. 
:      The commonest is <font face="courrier">this is in courrier</font>

Indeed. I'm uncertain whether that information should be added. It does
work in more browsers than CSS, but IMHO specifying the font isn't
important enough to justify an ugly compatibility kluge, or at least
not important enough have it take even more space in the FAQ.

:   Q: Can I put colours in ascii art? [may be covered already]
:   
:   A: Standard ascii-art is what all readers can display in plain text
:      and has no facility for colours.  You can put colours into HTML-  
:      ised ascii-art with <FONT color="FFFF00">maxR+maxG=Yellow</FONT>.

I thought about adding that, but decided to cut it for brevity. I'd then
have to explain the rather controversial point of adding color but not
depending on it, about the differences between ASCII art, text art, HTML
art etc.. Also, it'd be tag soup, and IMHO that belongs in ciwah.

I'm writing a longer tutorial about HTMLizing ascii art which will cover
all the points mentioned above. I'll put it on the web where it belongs,
and post the URL here when it's done.

--  __,,,------._
 ,-/|            `-.  Ilmari Karonen (ilt...@sci.fi) ^ All opinions expressed
/,  '\,     `.  ,|"-;;.__ http://www.sci.fi/~iltzu/ | in this message are my
/ ' 4(_,-_,-"_,/.'   `'--' ,------------------------' own. If you want me to
"`-(_,-"" `-' (,' itz      | make some for you too, you should pay for them!

Related ASCII art in the Gallery

Explore these categories from our collection of 11,000+ artworks:

   _______
 /` _____ `\;,
/__(^===^)__\';,
  /  :::  \   ,;
 |   :::   | ,;'
 '._______.'`jgs

 _  _
(o)(o)--.
 \../ (  )hjw
 m\/m--m'`--.

  _  _
/` \/ `\_  _
\     /` \/ `\
 '.  .\      /
   \/  '.  .'
         \/jgs

 __ .  . __
(o.\ \/ /.o)
 \__\/\/__/
 /O /==\ O\
(;O/ \/ \O;)

   _______
  |.-----.|
  || jgs ||
  ||_   _||
  `--)-(--`
 __[=== o]___
|:::::::::::|\
`-=========-`() 

     ,sSSs
   ,SSSS_/ ,_
   sS/`))\//
  sS//|_(_/      _,
  SS\\\  `""-.-'` /
sSS` jgs-==-'`'-._\

Make your own ASCII art

Turn images, text or 3D into ASCII, or draw your own – right in your browser.