Talk:ASCII art

Mona redirect
Mona (ASCII art) redirects here, but there is no explanation of Mona in the article. -- Beland (talk) 05:20, 6 June 2012 (UTC)


 * As I recall it, Mona was non-notable software promoted by its developer. If that is correct, the appropriate action would be to delete the redirect TEDickey (talk) 08:07, 6 June 2012 (UTC)

Mona was a font. --ThatGrrl (talk) 23:06, 6 March 2017 (UTC)

Shii’s song redirect
Why does "Shii's song" redirect here? It’s not referenced anywhere I can see 81.228.54.151 (talk) 15:05, 5 July 2014 (UTC)

No specific mention of AOL macros
There is no reference in the article to AOL "macros." I think it would be appropriate to specifically mention these in the "Non fixed-width ASCII" section as they became fairly recognizable in the late 90's when much of the general population of the United States connected to the internet through AOL. For many of these people, macros were their sole exposure to any form of ASCII art besides rudimentary forms like emoticons.

Macros were originally works of ASCII art modified to display properly in AOL chatrooms. Chatrooms were limited to the proportional font Arial (size 10). The font also included characters not traditionally used with works of ASCII art. Macros eventually grew to become their own entity and were quite popular until AOL stopped becoming a popular means of connecting to the internet. In the late 90's, I ran a site called The Macrohouse which displayed thousands of these macros from about a hundred different artists. I've rescued many of them through the Wayback Machine. Because of their font limitations, macros were not often used outside of AOL, but they should still be a recognized part of ASCII art history. Because Arial is a proportional font with a larger character set, macro art works were often more detailed than traditional ASCII art. If you're interested in including macro art in this article, let me know and I'll write something more appropriate. I could also provide images. I only refrain from doing so now because, at the time, much of the ASCII art community shared a general disdain for macro art. It existed outside the "rules" of traditional ASCII art and most of the macro artists were younger people. Eventually, some prominent members of the ASCII art community, like Joan Stark, began to recognize them, but most of the community was either apathetic or suppressed them. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Macrohouse (talk • contribs) 20:46, 30 October 2012 (UTC)

I remember the AOL macros. The information would be worth keeping with ASCII art. Some people still create text art using non fixed-width fonts (some using a graphics editor to move individual type characters as well). There was some nice work, but the point of ASCII was that it could be displayed in text and HTML rather than an image file. --ThatGrrl (talk) 23:11, 6 March 2017 (UTC)

Shift_JIS
The Shift_JIS section seems to have been written by someone who doesn't speak English. I can't fix it, I don't know what it means! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.168.187.66 (talk) 02:18, 29 December 2013 (UTC)

Who did that? It is somewhat comprehendible, but not very much. 162.104.12.143 (talk) 23:48, 9 November 2016 (UTC) Oh, and by the way, can anyone try and figure out what this bizarre juxtaposition of incredibly broken English is? (not to insult)162.104.12.143 (talk) 23:52, 9 November 2016 (UTC)

merge from ASCII art converter
ASCII art converter was nominated for deletion, but the result of the discussion was to merge that article here. How can the merge be correctly performed when the relevant material from the source article is completely unreferenced? -- Mikeblas (talk) 13:52, 1 June 2014 (UTC)

Typewriter-style
I added the bit about "typewriter" ASCII art (larger letters made from individual letter characters - I'm sorry, I don't know what the "scene" term for it is called) to the page along with a Hello World example. We used to see this a LOT back in the days of logging into mainframes over Telnet and 3270.MXocrossIIB (So, you were saying?); 03:54, 2 January 2016 (UTC)

In fact, it's actually much older-school than so-called "oldschool" Amiga text art. MXocrossIIB (So, you were saying?); 03:57, 2 January 2016 (UTC)

.nfo file art on warez releases
Strange there is no mention to the usual ascII art that almost allways come on warez .nfo files

Example of a google search of nfo + ascii:

someway somehow this nfo culture on ascii art should be added to the article.

--WiZaRd SaiLoR (talk) 09:55, 21 May 2016 (UTC)


 * Yes, NFO should be mentioned, but outside of the warez context. The relationship between NFO and warez is covered in the corresponding articles. There is no need to link ASCII art to warez. An9elFish  (talk) 00:03, 10 May 2021 (UTC)

1800s ASCII Art
http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2016/05/the-ascii-mystery-face/483698/?single_page=true
 * Don't make ad for a website please. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2A01:E35:8A8D:FE80:6D40:9ACE:9572:EB5 (talk) 03:36, 4 December 2016 (UTC)
 * It's a journal and wp:reliablesource for expanding the article, not an "ad".


 * More to the point, if text art is going to link here, the entire article needs a complete overhaul, with mention of the Greco-Roman concrete poems, medieval manuscript text art (sidebar), and (at minimum) their East Asian equivalents in the history section. Since that doesn't really fit the page name and would require a move, it's probably better to simply remove all pre-computer art (such as the current treatment of newspaper ads) to a new text art page and develop from there. — Llywelyn II   23:13, 4 March 2017 (UTC)

Real ASCII not there
Would be more interesting and useful to undestand how it works to have the picture in real ASCII, rather than a photo.
 * No, it wouldn't. We can set the size of the photos and do layout around them. Proper ASCII art within the page script could display differently across browsers, user settings, etc.


 * Maybe something small could be done, like an inline rose, but nothing large like the Wikipedia logo. — Llywelyn II   23:15, 4 March 2017 (UTC)

Easy enough to enlarge an ASCII art by changing the font size in Notepad. Then take a screenshot to use it as an image file which could be posted to the site. No problems for various browsers, etc. I've done so for my own ASCII art. The odd time someone complains about not having a text file but between having the art ripped off and not being able to display it reliably in HTML - an image file makes life a lot easier. --ThatGrrl (talk) 23:19, 6 March 2017 (UTC)

Teletext, BBC Micro
The article should say something about Teletext and Ceefax, important users of ANSI art-like graphics in the UK & other countries for years.

Also about the similar use of block graphics on the BBC Micro. Ben Finn (talk) 09:19, 15 July 2017 (UTC)

Intro Vague
"ASCII art was invented, in large part, because early printers often lacked graphics ability and thus characters were used in place of graphic marks. Also, to mark divisions between different print jobs from different users, bulk printers often used ASCII art to print large banners, making the division easier to spot so that the results could be more easily separated by a computer operator or clerk." This sentence in italics (italics mine) is not very clear and lacks citation. It is not clear from the sentence what is meant by "banners." Is it single-page divisions meant to signal a page break between documents, or is actual multi-page banners of the type printed on dot-matrix printers with continuous-feed paper? Anyone have a source or a clarification? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Picahudsonia (talk • contribs) 20:51, 25 December 2017 (UTC)

ASCII Art generators
Added here because the instructions on the article's page says to not add them there - Bevo (talk) 02:37, 23 June 2019 (UTC)
 * Block text generator in various fonts
 * ASCII Art chart generator

No mention of Jerma ASCII art
How come there is a wiki article on ASCII art, with ASCII art yet THIS ⡯⡯⡾⠝⠘⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢊⠘⡮⣣⠪⠢⡑⡌ ㅤ ⠟⠝⠈⠀⠀⠀. ⠡⠀⠠⢈⠠⢐⢠⢂⢔⣐⢄⡂⢔⠀⡁⢉⠸⢨⢑⠕⡌ ㅤ ⠀ ⠀ ⡀⠁⠀⠀⠀⡀⢂⠡⠈⡔⣕⢮⣳⢯⣿⣻⣟⣯⣯⢷⣫⣆⡂ ⢐⠑⡌ ⢀⠠⠐⠈⠀⢀⢂⠢⡂⠕⡁⣝⢮⣳⢽⡽⣾⣻⣿⣯⡯⣟⣞⢾⢜⢆⠀⡀⠀⠪ ⣬⠂⠀⠀⢀⢂⢪⠨⢂⠥⣺⡪⣗⢗⣽⢽⡯⣿⣽⣷⢿⡽⡾⡽⣝⢎⠀⠀⠀⢡ ⣿⠀⠀⠀⢂⠢⢂⢥⢱⡹⣪⢞⡵⣻⡪⡯⡯⣟⡾⣿⣻⡽⣯⡻⣪⠧⠑⠀⠁⢐ ⣿⠀⠀⠀⠢⢑⠠⠑⠕⡝⡎⡗⡝⡎⣞⢽⡹⣕⢯⢻⠹⡹⢚⠝⡷⡽⡨⠀⠀⢔ ⣿⡯⠀⢈⠈⢄⠂⠂⠐⠀⠌⠠⢑⠱⡱⡱⡑⢔⠁⠀⡀⠐⠐⠐⡡⡹⣪⠀⠀⢘ ⣿⣽⠀⡀⡊⠀⠐⠨⠈⡁⠂⢈⠠⡱⡽⣷⡑⠁⠠⠑⠀⢉⢇⣤⢘⣪⢽⠀⢌⢎ ⣿⢾⠀⢌⠌⠀⡁⠢⠂⠐⡀⠀⢀⢳⢽⣽⡺⣨⢄⣑⢉⢃⢭⡲⣕⡭⣹⠠⢐⢗ ⣿⡗⠀⠢⠡⡱⡸⣔⢵⢱⢸⠈⠀⡪⣳⣳⢹⢜⡵⣱⢱⡱⣳⡹⣵⣻⢔⢅⢬⡷ ⣷⡇⡂⠡⡑⢕⢕⠕⡑⠡⢂⢊⢐⢕⡝⡮⡧⡳⣝⢴⡐⣁⠃⡫⡒⣕⢏⡮⣷⡟ ⣷⣻⣅⠑⢌⠢⠁⢐⠠⠑⡐⠐⠌⡪⠮⡫⠪⡪⡪⣺⢸⠰⠡⠠⠐⢱⠨⡪⡪⡰ ⣯⢷⣟⣇⡂⡂⡌⡀⠀⠁⡂⠅⠂⠀⡑⡄⢇⠇⢝⡨⡠⡁⢐⠠⢀⢪⡐⡜⡪⡊ ⣿⢽⡾⢹⡄⠕⡅⢇⠂⠑⣴⡬⣬⣬⣆⢮⣦⣷⣵⣷⡗⢃⢮⠱⡸⢰⢱⢸⢨⢌ ⣯⢯⣟⠸⣳⡅⠜⠔⡌⡐⠈⠻⠟⣿⢿⣿⣿⠿⡻⣃⠢⣱⡳⡱⡩⢢⠣⡃⠢⠁ ⡯⣟⣞⡇⡿⣽⡪⡘⡰⠨⢐⢀⠢⢢⢄⢤⣰⠼⡾⢕⢕⡵⣝⠎⢌⢪⠪⡘⡌⠀ ⡯⣳⠯⠚⢊⠡⡂⢂⠨⠊⠔⡑⠬⡸⣘⢬⢪⣪⡺⡼⣕⢯⢞⢕⢝⠎⢻⢼⣀⠀ ⠁⡂⠔⡁⡢⠣⢀⠢⠀⠅⠱⡐⡱⡘⡔⡕⡕⣲⡹⣎⡮⡏⡑⢜⢼⡱⢩⣗⣯⣟ ⢀⢂⢑⠀⡂⡃⠅⠊⢄⢑⠠⠑⢕⢕⢝⢮⢺⢕⢟⢮⢊⢢⢱⢄⠃⣇⣞⢞⣞⢾ ⢀⠢⡑⡀⢂⢊⠠⠁⡂⡐⠀⠅⡈⠪⠪⠪⠣⠫⠑⡁⢔⠕⣜⣜⢦⡰⡎⡯⡾⡽ Is not mentioned in the examples? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Teuf0rt (talk • contribs) 02:47, 25 March 2022 (UTC)


 * Because baudot code-- that is paper-punch encoding with dots is different from character/number/symbol encoding. The difference between watercolours and oil painting.   WurmWoode  T   21:14, 22 September 2022 (UTC)

"Barphic" listed at Redirects for discussion
The redirect [//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Barphic&redirect=no Barphic] has been listed at redirects for discussion to determine whether its use and function meets the redirect guidelines. Readers of this page are welcome to comment on this redirect at  until a consensus is reached. Utopes (talk / cont) 05:56, 13 March 2024 (UTC)