Ascii-Art Secrets #4

Ascii-Art Sectrets #4
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
this is the Ascii-Art FAQ version 3 (draft)
an unfinished work by Matthew Thomas
it is the most recent(?) publication
as swiped from this here ng/msg.bd
with Ool/VK's header pic
also featuring krogg's politeness levels

i accept no liability or responsibility
for it whatsoever
it is provided such that it may be helpful
in its current entirety and without checks
or validation of any links referenced

i have tagged a few other notes on the end
re: obascii ?
re: outlook ?

if you have amendments, comments or suggestions
... then you do so ... 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   / ||-.


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[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
Last changed: 1999-05-15

NOTE: alt.ascii-art and alt.ascii-art.animation are Usenet discussion
groups. If you are new to Usenet, please read the messages in
news:news.announce.newusers before posting.

This FAQ is regularly posted to news:alt.ascii-art and
news:alt.ascii-art.animation. On the Web, the FAQ and other useful
documents can be found in the ASCII art Documentation Archive (ADA), at
the following locations:
*   http://voices.vossnet.co.uk/a/atkins/ada/ (UK)
*   http://website.lineone.net/~martin.atkins/ada/ (UK)
*   http://martweb.hypermart.net/ada/ (Seattle, USA)
[??? any more locations? I think I've missed a couple]

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. 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?
12. Where do I find more ASCII art pictures and information?

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 gets 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 (short for the 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 JavaScript. This relies not only on the
        newsreader being able to display HTML, but also being able to
        run JavaScript. Put it on a Web page instead, and post the
        address to news:alt.ascii-art.animation.

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 it's probably 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 > Read > [???]. The AOL newsreader can not, at the time of
    writing, display Usenet messages in a fixed-width font at all.
    
    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.  How do I draw my own 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.

    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).

    For 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:
    # hash/pound -- a hash symbol on most computers, a pound
        (currency) symbol on some British ones
    ^ 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.

    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) 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 that 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, PLEASE
        select the option which tells it to send messages as plain text
        only. 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, rather than
        posting the whole picture.

    *   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.

    *   Have you used any control codes? Inserting control codes (ASCII
        characters 0 to 31) in a picture can sometimes achieve
        interesting effects on your computer screen or news reader,
        such as reversing text, changing its colour, and so on. DO NOT
        post any of these pictures to alt.ascii-art, 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.)

    ASCII art is often an exception to this rule, though: 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 of our regulars, 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?
----------------------------------------------------------
     Yes, if we find it interesting. Give your request the subject
     `REQ: xyz' if you're looking for a picture of an xyz, 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 someone
     to draw what you want: if you just say something like `can someone
     draw me a fish' then you're not likely to get many replies,
     because people won't be sure whether or not 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.

10.  Can someone do me some cool lettering?
-------------------------------------------
    Probably not, unless we're REALLY bored. The reason for this is
    that 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://st-www.cs.uiuc.edu/users/chai/figlet.html. This site links
    to the FTP site ftp://ftp.internexus.net/pub/figlet/, where you can
    download versions of the program 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/.

    However, the output from these programs is often poor (fiddling
    with the picture in an image-editing program beforehand may help).
    In this case, you can 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 and news:alt.ascii-art.animation are the only
    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 JavaScript or scrolling displays).
    
    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.

    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. Allen Mullen has links to many of these sites at
    http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/2695/links.htm.
    
    The DMOZ Open Directory Project also has an extensive catalogue of
    ASCII art sites -- http://dmoz.org/Arts/ASCII/.

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]


11.  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].

Text-mode Quake -- http://webpages.mr.net/bobz/ttyquake/
    `The ASCII artists' in Wired magazine --
    http://www.wired.com/news/news/wiredview/story/6346.html.

analia and other animation software -- [???]

=======================================================================
[Subject:] End of (FAQ) ASCII art
=======================================================================


=======================================================================
[Subject:] ObAscii ?
=======================================================================
1. 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]


2. what does it mean ObAscii ? :
------------------------------

ObAscii = Obligatory Ascii
A funny way to remind people to put a drawing in their post.

Obligatory: [adj] compulsory (of a ruling) having binding force

Ascii: [slang] ascii-art picture

this means an ascii in every post!
failure to comply may result in flaming
implies 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


=======================================================================
[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 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.
>
=======================================================================
-- 
    __ ___ __
:::/  |_  | .`)::
::( (-| | |  <:::
:::\__|___|_|_\::

"CJRandall" <col...@shieldwolf.demon.co.uk> wrote in message
news:vB7...@shieldwolf.demon.co.uk...
> Ascii-Art Sectrets #4
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> this is the Ascii-Art FAQ version 3 (draft)
> an unfinished work by Matthew Thomas
> it is the most recent(?) publication
> as swiped from this here ng/msg.bd
> with Ool/VK's header pic
> also featuring krogg's politeness levels
>
> i accept no liability or responsibility
> for it whatsoever
> it is provided such that it may be helpful
> in its current entirety and without checks
> or validation of any links referenced
>
> i have tagged a few other notes on the end
> re: obascii ?
> re: outlook ?
>
> if you have amendments, comments or suggestions
> ... then you do so ... 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
> Last changed: 1999-05-15
>
> NOTE: alt.ascii-art and alt.ascii-art.animation are Usenet discussion
> groups. If you are new to Usenet, please read the messages in
> news:news.announce.newusers before posting.
>
> This FAQ is regularly posted to news:alt.ascii-art and
> news:alt.ascii-art.animation. On the Web, the FAQ and other useful
> documents can be found in the ASCII art Documentation Archive (ADA), at
> the following locations:
> *   http://voices.vossnet.co.uk/a/atkins/ada/ (UK)
> *   http://website.lineone.net/~martin.atkins/ada/ (UK)
> *   http://martweb.hypermart.net/ada/ (Seattle, USA)
> [??? any more locations? I think I've missed a couple]
>
> 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. 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?
> 12. Where do I find more ASCII art pictures and information?
>
> 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.
>

<snip>

>     *   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.

There are a few pieces that do get posted that are wider than 76. A
warning could be added ( wide 110 ) for a notice. For the family
filters when a nude ( nude or nudity ) piece of art is displayed.

A note for sending explianing how not to get wrapped in More Outlook

1 Tools menu
2 Options
3 Send
4 Both of these Mail an News format
5 Plian text settings         ____
6 Automatically wrap text at |____|

> THE END
>
> This document may be freely copied as long as Matthew Thomas is
> identified as the original author.
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------

<snip>

> =======================================================================
> =======================================================================
> --
>     __ ___ __
> :::/  |_  | .`)::
> ::( (-| | |  <:::
> :::\__|___|_|_\::

--lgbeard

Hi Colin,

nice to see someone taking up that project.

Some comments:

On Sat, 22 Dec 2001, CJRandall wrote:
[...]
> This FAQ is regularly posted to news:alt.ascii-art and
> news:alt.ascii-art.animation. On the Web, the FAQ and other useful
> documents can be found in the ASCII art Documentation Archive (ADA), at
> the following locations:
> *   http://voices.vossnet.co.uk/a/atkins/ada/ (UK)
> *   http://website.lineone.net/~martin.atkins/ada/ (UK)
> *   http://martweb.hypermart.net/ada/ (Seattle, USA)
> [??? any more locations? I think I've missed a couple]

I'd leave out the last one (pop-ups galore, NS 4 goes down too).
Instead we could do with another US mirror. Anyone?

Add the main one:

http://www.sci.fi/~iltzu/ascii/ada/

and VK's

http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/q/ada/


4. [...]
>     *   ASCII art animated using JavaScript. This relies not only on the
>         newsreader being able to display HTML, but also being able to
>         run JavaScript. Put it on a Web page instead, and post the
>         address to news:alt.ascii-art.animation.

We should add Java here since JavE will probably be used much more than
the `old' Javascript player.

[...]
> 6.  How do I draw my own 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.

Here should be one sentence about JavE (e.g. written in Java, many extra
ASCII features included,...)

[...]
>     Even so, there are a few characters to watch out for:
>     # hash/pound -- a hash symbol on most computers, a pound
>         (currency) symbol on some British ones

Is that correct? I mean the `some British ones'? Because if that is so
then this should not be on top of this list because it refers to only a
minor `British' problem :) whereas the ~ for example will be `misplaced'
more often.

[...]
>     Finally, do not use any control codes, non-ASCII characters, or
>     word-processor-type formatting in your pictures. Not only are these

Maybe TABs should be mentioned here (explicitely, again?).

[...]
> 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.)
> 
>     ASCII art is often an exception to this rule, though: generally,
[...]

Exception to what `rule'? I'd like to have a clearer statement here,
like `Often you may copy and use ASCII art, though' or something like
that (but nicer/better).

> 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/.

Is someone willing to check the links in this document. I guess
many of them will be dead, like the above. :(

And again: JavE should be mentioned here (maybe in the Figlet section
too). There have been also some other conversion codes mentioned
recently. Anyone remembers where those are available?

[...]
> 12. Where do I find more ASCII art pictures and information?
> ------------------------------------------------------------
[...]
> 
>     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. Allen Mullen has links to many of these sites at
>     http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/2695/links.htm.

That one's not dead but hasn't seen an update for more than a year - it 
hosts many dead links now. :(

Personally I'd recommend the following first:

>     
>     The DMOZ Open Directory Project also has an extensive catalogue of
>     ASCII art sites -- http://dmoz.org/Arts/ASCII/.

[...]
> Text-mode Quake -- http://webpages.mr.net/bobz/ttyquake/
>     `The ASCII artists' in Wired magazine --
>     http://www.wired.com/news/news/wiredview/story/6346.html.
> 
> analia and other animation software -- [???]

If there is no real maintainer for the FAQ then there shouldn't be
too many links in it. Only the very important ones. Dead links
are worse then no links in a FAQ.

[...]
> =======================================================================
> [Subject:] ObAscii ?
[...]

The ObAscii part looks nice. Maybe put the explanation before the
`first ever' to minimise confusion.

Hopefully more people will comment or correct this text because that's
how a FAQ should be created and kept up to date. Anyway, thank
you Colin, for starting this!


:)
Andreas

________________________________________________ http://www.ascii-art.de