From: colin.randall2@gmail.com (CJRandall)
Subject: [FAQ] ASCII Art - answers to frequently asked questions
Newsgroups: alt.ascii-art,alt.ascii-art.animation,news.answers
Followup-To: alt.ascii-art
Approved: news-answers-request@MIT.EDU
X-Disclaimer: Approval for *.answers is based on form, not content.
Organisation: none what so ever
Summary: Ascii-Art FAQ version 3 <pre>
it contains texts written by:-
Jorn Barger, Bob Allison and Matthew Thomas
together with texts gleaned from many others
this is the most recent (v3.0.3.37) publication
+------------------------------------------------
it is provided such that it may be helpful
+------------------------------------------------
changes from v3.0.3.36 are: posting tips compliance
changes from v3.0.3.35 are: fixes for posting agent i use
changes from v3.0.3.34 are: minor cosmetic for web-browsers
changes from v3.0.3.33 are: minor revisions+links validated
changes from v3.0.3.32 are: additions+corrections
changes from v3.0.3.31 are: minor revisions
changes from v3.0.3.30 are: google-groups fix+links validated
changes from v3.0.3.29 are: no m$.outlook+google-groups bad
changes from v3.0.3.28 are: minor revisions
changes from v3.0.3.27 are: links updated+validated
changes from v3.0.3.26 are: minor revisions
changes from v3.0.3.25 are: links validated
changes from v3.0.3.24 are: posting-frequency

Archive-name: arts/ascii
X-Archive-name: ascii-art/faq
Posting-Frequency: occasionally
Version: 3.0.3.37
Last-changed: 2023-05-14 cjr
Compiler: CJRandall <colin.randall2@gmail.com>
Copyright: Public display of this document in proportional-fonts is forbidden

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| | : : :: \ \ ;;
J J : : :: \ \ ;;
L L : : __ _ _________ \ \ ;;
| | : : / |`| |`|___ ___|`-.\ \ ;;
J J : : / . | | | `-.| |`-. `-.`\ \ ;;
L L : : / /| | | | | | `-. `-\ \ ;;
| | : : / /_| | | | | | `-. \ \. ;;
J J : : / ___ | | | | | `-\ \`-.
L L : : / /`-.| | | |___ | | _ \ \-.`-._
| | : : /_/____|_|_|_____|_|_|_(_) _ \ \ `-._`:
J J : : |__________________________| `-. \ \-.,-'
L L : : _ _ _ _ _ ___ `-. `-. \ \ |
| | :_: /\(_`/ `-| |`-_/\-| )-_| `-. `-. `-. \ \|
J J | | /--\_)\_,_|_|__/--\|_\__|__ `-. `-._`-\ \
L L|_| |___________________________|`-. `-._ `-.\ \
| | | _____ ___ ___ `-.`-._ `-._ \ ,!`-.
J J | | ___|`/ _ \`-._/ _ \`--. `-._`--._`-'||`-'
L L | | |_ / /_\ \ / / \ \ `-._ `--. `-,+.`-._
__-------_ | _|`/ _____ \ \ \_/ /_._ `--._ `-.|X||-./
| |/|_|_./_/_____\_\_\_____/=\`-._ `-. |X||.|
| _,--------------.____ -========\_(A)`-.._ `-|X||\
Ool | _| ` |_`--. `-- |X||/
/VK | | | ALT.ASCII-ART: FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS / ||-.
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[Subject:] (FAQ) Welcome to ASCII art
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__ __ __ _,
\\ \\ / ___ '|| ___ ___ __ _ _ ___ _/|_ ___
\\ /\\ / //_\) || // \)// \\ ||'||'|| //_\) || // \\
\/ \/ \\__,_||_\\__,\\_//_||_||_||_\\__, \|_\\_//

___ ___ ____ ____
/\ (( / // | || || ___ _,_ _/|_
/_\\ \\ (( || || __\\'||\) ||
_/ _\\_/__)) \\__,_||_ _||_ ((_||_||_ \|_

Answers to frequently asked questions about ASCII art
========================================================================
On the Web, the FAQ and other useful documents can be found in the
ASCII art Documentation Archive (ADA), at the following locations:-
========================================================================
*** There is a wealth of information about ASCII Art ***
*** in the ASCII Documents Archive ***
========================================================================
International Mirrors
========================================================================
https://www.votrezone.com/ada/ (Calgary, Canada)
https://vyznev.net/ascii/ada/ (Helsinki, Finland)
https://www.ludd.ltu.se/~vk/q/ada/ (Lulea, Sweden)

https://dmoz-odp.org/Computers/Usenet/FAQs/Individual_Group_FAQs/
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-+*%$%*+-.-+*%$%*+-.-+*%$%*+-.-+*%$%*+-.-+*%$%*+-.-+*%$%*+-.-+*%$%*+-
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Contents
========================================================================
[1] What's alt.ascii-art?
[2] What is ASCII art?
[3] What does ASCII mean?
[4] Why do all the pictures look strange?
[5] What font do you use for ASCII art?
[6] What program do you use for ASCII art?
[7] How do I draw my own ASCII art?
[8] Can someone do me some kewl lettering?
[9] Where can I find Figlet's address?
[10] Can I copy or post that ASCII picture for myself?
[11] What way works best to ask for a picture of something?
[12] What should I know before posting to alt.ascii-art?
[13] What to NOT post to alt.ascii-art? [da roolz]
[14] Have a picture or graphic and would like it Asciified?
[15] How do I convert a picture or graphic to ASCII art?
[16] How do I put ASCII art on a webpage?
[17] What are ASCII art signature files?
[18] What is ASCII art animation?
[19] What does ObAscii mean?
[21] Where can I find pictures/tutorials/infos/chatrooms/experts?
[22] Historacle's What types of ASCII art are there?
[X1] The Ascii Art 10-Commandments

========================================================================
[1] What's alt.ascii-art? What's going on here?
========================================================================
You're probably reading this because it's been posted to
news:alt.ascii-art, news:alt.ascii-art.animation or rec.arts.ascii.
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 a definition of ASCII, see Question 3.)

:-) Probably the most common ASCII art picture is the smiley (-:
=) but it can get a lot more sophisticated than that. (=
____
.-" +' "-. Here's a small ASCII picture of
/.'.'A_'*`.\ a snow-scene paperweight,
|:.*'/\-\. ':| drawn by Joan Stark:
|:.'.||"|.'*:|
\:~^~^~^~^:/ If this picture looks very strange and
/`-....-'\ you can't really tell what it is,
jgs / \ 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 does ASCII mean?
========================================================================
ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange)
7-bit as defined in ISO-646 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