From: Bob Rankin
To: TOURBUS@LISTSERV.AOL.COM
Subject: TOURBUS - 28 July 1998 - BEST OF TOURBUS - ASCII Art
[ Please switch to a monospace font to enjoy this issue! ]
_________ ____________ ________ __________ _____________ ___ _
/ | / | | / | \
| HEY, | RIDE THE / BUS AND | SURF FOR | FREE! / | \
|__________|__________/__________|__________|___________/ | \
/ /______|----\
| SURFREE.COM (surf-free-dot-com) n. 1. A Nationwide |//////| |
| Provider of unlimited Net access for $14.95 / month. |//////| |
| 2. An opportunity for AOL users to save $84 annually. |//////| |
| 3. A fast, reliable means of riding Tourbus & surfing |//////| |
| the Web. See also: EASY, 56K access, 24/7 tech support |//////| |
| >>> http://www.tourbus.com/surfree.cgi <<< |//////| |
\________________________________________________________|______|____|
/ \ / \ / \
\___/ \___/ T h e I n t e r n e t T o u r B u s \___/
TODAY'S TOURBUS TOPIC: BEST OF TOURBUS #10 - ASCII Art
I like the idea of delivering high tech stuff in a low tech medium.
So that's why I've selected this Tourbus post from last October and
updated it with a bunch of new information. It's one of my all-time
favorites! Please enjoy, and be sure to visit today's sponsors.
+------------------ FREE Virtual Greeting Cards ---------------------+
Over 600 exciting Cards! They sing! They Dance! All occasions. See
all four panels of your card. Opens just like a real greeting card.
Beautiful animations.. 100%, absolutely FREE! Send a card now!
+----------------- http://www.greetingsonline.com -------------------+
+---------------------- POOR RICHARD'S WEB SITE ---------------------+
Get Geek-Free, Commonsense Advice on Building a Low-Cost Web Site
in a book by best-selling author Peter Kent. For sample chapters,
Table of Contents, almost 800 useful links for people setting up
Web sites, and examples of free and low-cost Web-site utilities
+---------------------CLICK HERE---> http://www.poorrichard.com <----+
This is a fantastic book, by the way. Chock full of excellent info
that'll save you time, money and frustration! Lots of free info at
the website, and the book is an excellent reference for any webmaster.
BACK IN THE DAYS OF OLD...
--------------------------
Long before the advent of the Web and all of its glittering
graphics, people were creating computer graphics of a different
sort that required no special hardware or software to view. This
"ASCII art" can be sent by e-mail without encoding or attachments
because it's composed only of plain text characters.
ASCII art is a unique form of expression ranging from the simple
to the very complex. Using only the characters on your keyboard
and some creativity, you can create images that are cute, funny
or intricately beautiful.
One caveat - you must use a MONOSPACE FONT such as Courier in order
to view ASCII artwork. If your e-mail program doesn't allow you to
change the font, save this message as file and view it with a word
processor that allows you to set the font. (The term ASCII refers
to a standard set of characters that are supposed to display the same
on any computer.)
SMILIES
-------
Smilies, sometimes called emoticons, are the most basic form of
ASCII art. Smilies are textual representations of emotions that
people commonly use in their e-mail. They^Òre one way to express
emotion in the otherwise emotionless world of e-mail. When you see
a bunch of dashes, parentheses, and other punctuation marks that
don^Òt seem to make sense, try turning your head sideways. Smileys
like the ones in the list below, are great ways to overcome the
impersonal nature of the electronic medium.
:-) Smile
;-) Wink
:-( Frown
These are the most common smilies, but there are dozens more. You can
find a large collection on the web at
http://members.aol.com/bearpage/smileys.htm
or get Don Z'Boray's Unofficial Smiley FAQ by sending e-mail to
SMILEYS@Newbie.NET.
COWS AND OTHER STUFF
--------------------
One favorite subject of the ASCII artists is animals. Many people
use them in e-mail or Usenet signature files just for fun. The
eagle and the cat below are classic examples.
.---. .----------
/ \ __ / ------
/ / \( )/ -----
////// ' \/ ` ---
//// / // : : ---
// / / /` '--
// //..\\
====UU====UU====
'//||\\`
''``
("`-''-/").___..--''"`-._
`6_ 6 ) `-. ( ).`-.__.`)
(_Y_.)' ._ ) `._ `. ``-..-'
_..`--'_..-_/ /--'_.' ,'
(il),-'' (li),' ((!.-'
There are also quite a few people who enjoy portraying cows
ala keyboard. I've seen some hilarious ASCII cows, like these
floating around in cyberspace.
(__)
(oo) When cows laugh really hard,
/-------\/ does milk come out their nose?
/ | ||
* ||w---||
^^ ^^
(__)
(oo) Mathematical Cow
/---------\/ (Developer of cow-culus)
/ | x=a(b)||
* ||------||
~~ ~~
If you need a good chuckle, visit David Bader's COMPLETE GUIDE TO COWS,
which is a large collection of ASCII cows on the web at
http://www.mcs.brandonu.ca/~ennsnr/Cows/guide.html
FIGLETS
-------
A figlet is a way to make large letters out of ordinary text. A
program called FIGLET can use a variety of special effects to
create text
| (_) | _____ | |_| |__ (_)___
| | | |/ / _ \ | __| '_ \| / __|
| | | < __/ | |_| | | | \__ \
|_|_|_|\_\___| \__|_| |_|_|___/
_ _ _ _ _ _
/ \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \
( o | r ) ( t | h | i | s )
\_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/
You can learn all about figlets and create your own by visiting
http://st-www.cs.uiuc.edu/users/chai/figlet.html
E-mail users can send a message to Michel.Eftimakis@vlsi.COM
with "Figlet: Help" in the Subject line (leave off the quotes).
This is an automated service, but if you don't put the command
exactly as shown in the Subject line of your note, it will drop
into Michel's private mailbox and will probably get deleted.
ADVANCED ASCII ARTWORK
----------------------
. .'
:`...' `.,' '
`. ' .**. ; ; ':
` ``:`****,' .' :
..::. ``**":.'' `. The examples so far have
.: `: ; `,' : been pretty basic, but there
`: ` : ; are ASCII artists who produce
: : : ; some pretty amazing images.
: : : .:
: : :..,' ``::.
`....:..' ..:;''
.: . ...:::: This rose is just one example
,'''''``::::::: of the work you can sample
`:::: at the Signature Museum.
`::.
`::
. ,. ::::' ,..
.'.' ``. :: .'.. `.
' .: :: ,'.' .
.' ,' .:::::: ,.' .:::.
.' .' ..:' ::: ., .;' ~
,;::;.::'' ::.:..::'
~ ::;'
:: The ASCII Art section there
,::: has pages devoted to
::. Animals, Christmas, Easter,
:: Flora, Love. Misc, Music
:: and People. Find it at
::
http://huizen.dds.nl/~mwpieter/sigs
BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE
-----------------------
If you thought those were kind of nifty, you will be amazed at the
ASCII images you can find at the address below. Many of them are in
COLOR and incredibly detailed. Here's a sampling of what you'll find:
* Disney and Warner Brothers Cartoons
- Don't miss the colorized Lion King pictures
* Comic Strips
- Archie, The Jetsons, and Superman are great!
* College Mascots and Logos
- Over 40 schools, even the Crimson Tide is there.
* Famous Paintings
- Wow. See The Birth of Venus, Mona Lisa, and Starry Night
http://users.inetw.net/~mullen/ascii.htm
ROLL YOUR OWN
--------------
Wanna learn more about ASCII art? Visit Allen Mullen's ASCII Art
Information page at
http://users.inetw.net/~mullen/asciiart.htm
You'll find info on the various styles of ASCII art, how to create
your own, and links to some other fun ASCII art pages. Have a
little fun with ASCII art. It's a wonderfully rich, low-tech, and
very accessible medium to express yourself!
/ _\ ___ ___ /\_/\___ _ _ / / __ _| |_ ___ _ __ / \
\ \ / _ \/ _ \ \_ _/ _ \| | | | / / / _` | __/ _ \ '__// /
_\ \ __/ __/ / \ (_) | |_| | / /__| (_| | || __/ | /\_/
\__/\___|\___| \_/\___/ \__,_| \____/\__,_|\__\___|_| \/ --Bob
=====================[ TOURBUS Rider Information ]===================
The Internet Tourbus - U.S. Library of Congress ISSN #1094-2238
Copyright 1995-98, Rankin & Crispen - All rights reserved
Archives on the Web at http://www.TOURBUS.com
Join: Send SUBSCRIBE TOURBUS Your Name to LISTSERV@LISTSERV.AOL.COM
Leave: Send SIGNOFF TOURBUS to LISTSERV@LISTSERV.AOL.COM
Send this copy to 3 friends and tell them to hop on the Bus!
=====================================================================
