The <PLAINTEXT> HTML tag: Good for ASCIIArt?

Martin Atkins <zne...@ovtsbbg.pbz> ASCII art 13 Apr 1998 00:00 · permalink · report


I`ve been experimenting with ways to display the asciis on my websites, and I think the <PLAINTEXT>
tag works really well, It means you can have an HTML with the equivilant of a text file at the end,
no markup and no &lt; and &gt; required.

I was wondering if there are any browsers where this doesn`t work?

I`ve attached an example, but outlook express and whatnot may interpret it as the message which
could be quite annoying (I`ve havd it happen to me before when I was emailed an HTML file - MSIE3
mail thought the HTML file was a rich email message! :)

Can you let me know how well this works in Lynx especially, since this was the browser that has
most problems with the asciis in my gallery right now (which, incidentally, I will update soon
I promise!)
            _______
   / |    |    |     |\   /|  |      \
  /  |    |    |     | \ / |  |       \
 <   |----|    |     |  V  |  |        >
  \  |    |    |     |     |  |       /
   \ |    |    |     |     |  |_____ /
(I hate the way Vs are done in the FixedSys font!)

""""""""""""""""""7
Cya........      /
________________/

.------------------------------------------------------------------------.
:_       _                         _       _                             :
|_|_   _|_|    _ _ _   _   _ _   _|_|_ _  |_|  _ _ _                     :
|_|_|_|_|_|  _|_|_|_| |_|_|_|_| |_|_|_|_|  _  |_|_|_|_                   :
|_| |_| |_| |_|   |_| |_|_|       |_|     |_| |_|   |  ||||| .-----------.
|_|     |_| |_|_ _|_| |_|         |_|_ _  |_| |_|   | | o o ||mart.atkins|
|_| _ _ |_|   |_|_|_| |_|       _   |_|_| |_| |_|   | |  >  ||     @     |
: _|_|_|_   _|_|_ _  |_|  _    |_|  _ _ _       _ _ _ | \_/ ||bigfoot.com|
:|_|_ _|_| |_|_|_|_| |_|_|_|    _  |_|_|_|_   _|_|_|_| \___/ '-----------'
:|_|_|_|_|   |_|     |_|_|_    |_| |_|   |_| |_|_|_ _ __| |__            :
:|_|   |_|   |_|_ _  |_| |_|_  |_| |_|   |_|  _ _|_| /  \_/  \           :
:|_|   |_|     |_|_| |_|   |_| |_| |_|   |_| |_|_|_| | |   | |           :
:        http://vibes.vossnet.co.uk/i/ighaig/        | |MGA| |           :
:   http://voices.vossnet.co.uk/a/atkins/ascii.htm   | |   | |           :
'------------------------------------------------------------------------'
If you are new to the newsgroup, please read our FAQ list - posted weekly
     and on the web at http://vibes.vossnet.co.uk/i/ighaig/ascfaq.htm

BluePard <blu...@buffnet.net> ASCII art 13 Apr 1998 00:00 · permalink · report

Martin Atkins wrote:
> 
> I`ve been experimenting with ways to display the asciis on my websites, and I think the <PLAINTEXT>
> tag works really well, It means you can have an HTML with the equivilant of a text file at the end,
> no markup and no &lt; and &gt; required.

Hrmm, I use <pre> -- what's the diff?
-- 
  _-                                       BluePard
;' )\_    ___                "A foot falls, yet makes no sound...."    
  |   ````   \     .-.   http://www.geocities.com/southbeach/palms/2115
 (\|  /  (  _)\   //`-`  
_-'_.'  "---' `---'

llizard <cq5...@freent.toronto.on.ca> 13 Apr 1998 00:00 · permalink · report

In article <353...@news.vossnet.net>, zne...@ovtsbbg.pbz
(Martin Atkins) wrote:
> 
> I`ve been experimenting with ways to display the asciis on my websites, and I think the <PLAINTEXT>
> tag works really well, It means you can have an HTML with the equivilant of a text file at the end,
> no markup and no &lt; and &gt; required.
> 
> I was wondering if there are any browsers where this doesn`t work?
> 
> I`ve attached an example, but outlook express and whatnot may interpret it as the message which
> could be quite annoying (I`ve havd it happen to me before when I was emailed an HTML file - MSIE3
> mail thought the HTML file was a rich email message! :)
> 
> Can you let me know how well this works in Lynx especially, since this was the browser that has
> most problems with the asciis in my gallery right now (which, incidentally, I will update soon
> I promise!)
>             _______
>    / |    |    |     |\   /|  |      \
>   /  |    |    |     | \ / |  |       \
>  <   |----|    |     |  V  |  |        >
>   \  |    |    |     |     |  |       /
>    \ |    |    |     |     |  |_____ /
> (I hate the way Vs are done in the FixedSys font!)
> 
[snip]
> |_|     |_| |_|_ _|_| |_|         |_|_ _  |_| |_|   | | o o ||mart.atkins|
> |_| _ _ |_|   |_|_|_| |_|       _   |_|_| |_| |_|   | |  >  ||     @     |
> : _|_|_|_   _|_|_ _  |_|  _    |_|  _ _ _       _ _ _ | \_/ ||bigfoot.com|
[snip]
> :        http://vibes.vossnet.co.uk/i/ighaig/        | |MGA| |           :
> :   http://voices.vossnet.co.uk/a/atkins/ascii.htm   | |   | |           :
> '------------------------------------------------------------------------'
> If you are new to the newsgroup, please read our FAQ list - posted weekly
>      and on the web at http://vibes.vossnet.co.uk/i/ighaig/ascfaq.htm

It seems to be working in Lynx (I'm amazed) but you might want to add an
alt tag to the images you use for your links. For instance, on the teen
page, the image "index" appears as "link" in Lynx.

How annoying for me that the plaintext tag seems to work for you. I
spent hours changing all of my < to &#60; etc, etc,


NOTE: If you hit the reply button, add an "e" to the "freent";
its absense is to stop the torment of automatic mailers.
--
        ha      llizard aka ejm  cq5...@freenet.toronto.on.ca
^^^^%---  ha        www.geocities.com/SoHo/Studios/9334/
 "   \ ha        ASCII-art and Javascript ASCII-animations

Donovan <bak...@gwtc.net> ASCII art 14 Apr 1998 00:00 · permalink · report

Martin Atkins wrote:
> 
> I`ve been experimenting with ways to display the asciis on my websites, and I think the <PLAINTEXT>
> tag works really well, It means you can have an HTML with the equivilant of a text file at the end,
> no markup and no &lt; and &gt; required.
> 
> I was wondering if there are any browsers where this doesn`t work?

Martin, 

I use <pre> instead also, it seems to be the same. Hmmm? Neither one
does much for centering though. *S*

Donovan

-- 
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fpr...@yahoo.com ASCII art 14 Apr 1998 00:00 · permalink · report

In article <353...@news.vossnet.net>,
  zne...@ovtsbbg.pbz wrote:
> I`ve been experimenting with ways to display the asciis on my websites, and
I think the <PLAINTEXT>
> tag works really well, It means you can have an HTML with the equivilant of
a text file at the end,

i like to use the <pre> tag, there is also the <code> tag, both from html 1 so
everything should accept them.

samples of both: (from your site, natch)

<pre>
PRE:
        ___
       |---|
       |_|_|
       |   |
       |   |
       |   |
       |   |
       |   |
       |___|
      /_____\
      |11:10|
      |_____|
      |.....|
      |.....|
      \ ___ /
       |   |
       |   |
       |   |
       | . |
       | . |
       | . | mga
       | . |
       | . |
       | . |
       | . |
       | . |
       |   |
        \ /
</pre>

<code>
CODE:
        ___
       |---|
       |_|_|
       |   |
       |   |
       |   |
       |   |
       |   |
       |___|
      /_____\
      |11:10|
      |_____|
      |.....|
      |.....|
      \ ___ /
       |   |
       |   |
       |   |
       | . |
       | . |
       | . | mga
       | . |
       | . |
       | . |
       | . |
       | . |
       |   |
        \ /
</code>

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Ilmari Karonen <ilt...@sci.fi> ASCII art 14 Apr 1998 00:00 · permalink · report

Martin Atkins (zne...@ovtsbbg.pbz) wrote:

: I`ve been experimenting with ways to display the asciis on my websites,
: and I think the <PLAINTEXT> tag works really well, It means you can
: have an HTML with the equivilant of a text file at the end, no markup
: and no &lt; and &gt; required.

1. Your lines were too long, I had to reformat them for 80col.

2. The <PLAINTEXT> tag is obsolete. Use <PRE> instead.

3. Your pics are fine if your just remember to substitute the &lt; etc.

4. As for the rest of the site, it's awful both in Lynx and as source. If
   you must use a HTML editor instead of doing it yourself, get a better
   editor. (I can't comment on how it looks on graphical browsers, but
   bright yellow on black isn't really my favorite color scheme..)

5. I might try to redo your index page by hand, but first I'll have to
   make sense of the tag soup it is now.. :(

6. For HTML reference try http://www.w3.org/ and http://www.htmlhelp.com/

In conclusion, most "WYSIWYG" HTML editors I've seen suck large boulders
through several kilometers of garden hose, and yours seems to be no
exception to the rule.

--  __,,,------._
 ,-/|            `-.  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!

Brock Kevin Nambo <new...@earthling.net> 15 Apr 1998 00:00 · permalink · report

Ilmari Karonen wrote in message <6h2718$eja$2...@tron.sci.fi>...
>Repeat after me: *The* *tag* *for* *ascii* *art* *is* *<PRE>!*

<!-- evil HTML -->
<IFRAME src="asciiimage.txt" type="text/plain" width="about 50"
height="about 50">
If you can't see this, you have a frames-impaired browser like Netscape or
Lynx.<br>
Use <a href="asciiimage.txt">this link</a> to see the picture!
</IFRAME>
<!-- </evil> -->

Of course that's what W3 wants you to use, rather than using ASCIIart in
pages because of their accessibility bits. (Or "OBJECT" instead of
"IFRAME".)

What would be ideal is to use "text/asciiart" but my browser doesn't
recognize it (and doesn't display it. Grr.)

>>BKNambo
--
and that's just the way it is...

Ilmari Karonen <ilt...@sci.fi> ASCII art 15 Apr 1998 00:00 · permalink · report

fpr...@yahoo.com wrote:
: i like to use the <pre> tag, there is also the <code> tag, both from
: html 1 so everything should accept them.
: samples of both: (from your site, natch)

: <pre>
 [schnip]
: </pre>

This one should be just fine.

: <code>
 [schnap]
: </code>

Bzzt, wrong! I might have to dig out my HTML lecture again and post
it, but meanwhile here is how a browser would render that. Yes, it
will most likely be in a monospaced font, but all the whitespace will
still be collapsed:

CODE: ___ |---| |_|_| | | | | | | | | | | |___| /_____\ |11:10| |_____|
|.....| |.....| \ ___ / | | | | | | | . | | . | | . | mga | . | | . |
| . | | . | | . | | | \ /

Besides, if that's what you really want, the correct tag would be <TT>.
<CODE> is a semantic tag for marking up program code, and nothing else.

Repeat after me: *The* *tag* *for* *ascii* *art* *is* *<PRE>!*

--  __,,,------._
 ,-/|            `-.  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!

cb <c...@io.com> 15 Apr 1998 00:00 · permalink · report

Ilmari Karonen wrote:
> 
> fpr...@yahoo.com wrote:
> 
[snip]
> : <code>
>  [schnap]
> : </code>
> 
> Bzzt, wrong! I might have to dig out my HTML lecture again and post
> it, but meanwhile here is how a browser would render that. Yes, it
> will most likely be in a monospaced font, but all the whitespace will
> still be collapsed:
> 
> CODE: ___ |---| |_|_| | | | | | | | | | | |___| /_____\ |11:10| |_____|
> |.....| |.....| \ ___ / | | | | | | | . | | . | | . | mga | . | | . |
> | . | | . | | . | | | \ /

Curious.  I'm using Netscape Communicator 4.05 and both versions
rendered identically.  I'm sure this doesn't apply to all browsers, just
another data point here.  Now that I think <hah!> about it, I'm going to
use trn for this group instead.

cheers,
cb

           Cyberspace Buddha /(0\ What's on, your mind?
            mailto:c...@io.com \1)/ http://www.io.com/~cb
                   Not your fathers buddha.

RaD Man [ACiD Founder] <rad...@nospam.acid.org> ASCII art 15 Apr 1998 00:00 · permalink · report

On 15 Apr 1998 11:52:08 GMT, ilt...@sci.fi (Ilmari Karonen) wrote:

%fpr...@yahoo.com wrote:
%: i like to use the <pre> tag, there is also the <code> tag, both from
%: html 1 so everything should accept them.
%: samples of both: (from your site, natch)
%
%: <pre>
% [schnip]
%: </pre>
%
%This one should be just fine.
%
%: <code>
% [schnap]
%: </code>
%
%Bzzt, wrong! I might have to dig out my HTML lecture again and post
%it, but meanwhile here is how a browser would render that. Yes, it
%will most likely be in a monospaced font, but all the whitespace will
%still be collapsed:
%
%CODE: ___ |---| |_|_| | | | | | | | | | | |___| /_____\ |11:10| |_____|
%|.....| |.....| \ ___ / | | | | | | | . | | . | | . | mga | . | | . |
%| . | | . | | . | | | \ /
%
%Besides, if that's what you really want, the correct tag would be <TT>.
%<CODE> is a semantic tag for marking up program code, and nothing else.
%
%Repeat after me: *The* *tag* *for* *ascii* *art* *is* *<PRE>!*
%

Ilmari you're right.  I think this is something worthy of placing in the FAQ
itself as it's quite useful information for newcomers to have.

Does anyone else agree?

-r-


-- enq...@npvq.bet

 RaD Man % ACiD Productions Founder % Artpacks Archive Founder

  Words to live by: " It's better to be controversial for the
  right reasons, than to be popular for the wrong reasons. "

John Savard <jsa...@teneerf.edmonton.ab.ca> 16 Apr 1998 00:00 · permalink · report

Donovan <bak...@gwtc.net> wrote:

>Martin Atkins wrote:

>> I`ve been experimenting with ways to display the asciis on my websites, and I think the <PLAINTEXT>
>> tag works really well, It means you can have an HTML with the equivilant of a text file at the end,
>> no markup and no &lt; and &gt; required.

>> I was wondering if there are any browsers where this doesn`t work?

>Martin, 

>I use <pre> instead also, it seems to be the same. Hmmm? Neither one
>does much for centering though. *S*

With <pre> you still have to use &lt; of course. I thought <plaintext>
didn't do anything but suppress HTML interpretation, so that you would
have to do

<pre><plaintext>
ASCII art
</plaintext></pre>

(of course, it doesn't work the other way around since the <pre> won't
work inside the <plaintext>...)

John Savard

Donovan <bak...@gwtc.net> ASCII art 16 Apr 1998 00:00 · permalink · report

RaD Man [ACiD Founder] wrote:
> 
> On 15 Apr 1998 11:52:08 GMT, ilt...@sci.fi (Ilmari Karonen) wrote:
> %
> %Repeat after me: *The* *tag* *for* *ascii* *art* *is* *<PRE>!*
> %
> 
> Ilmari you're right.  I think this is something worthy of placing in the FAQ
> itself as it's quite useful information for newcomers to have.
> 
> Does anyone else agree?
> 
> -r-
> 
> -- enq...@npvq.bet
> 
>  RaD Man % ACiD Productions Founder % Artpacks Archive Founder
> 
>   Words to live by: " It's better to be controversial for the
>   right reasons, than to be popular for the wrong reasons. "

I second that one....LOL I didn't even know it was an issue, but it's
good info.

Donovan

-- 
 __                                                                   
( o>  Poems By Donovan - http://www.geocities.com/Paris/LeftBank/6558/
///\      _       _       _       _       _       _       _       _   
\V_/_ ___|_|_____|_|_____|_|_____|_|_____|_|_____|_|_____|_|_____|_|__
Home of DA QUIZ! and the famous Secret Link Game. Find and Conquer the
Secret Link and win a homepage award. ICQ# 812836 E-Mail:bak...@gwtc.net
``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
        (".___.")     EVANS PLUNGE BEANIE BABIES PRICE LIST       
        _ { + } _                                                 
      ()__|>o<|__()     http://www.gwtc.net/~bakd/bb.html         
         (  .  )                                                   
       (_)     (_)   New and Retired Beanies are available!!!