From bobrankin@MHV.NET Wed Oct 15 12:25:59 1997 Date: Wed, 15 Oct 1997 03:04:28 -0400 From: Bob Rankin To: TOURBUS@LISTSERV.AOL.COM Subject: TOURBUS - 14 Oct 1997 - ASCII Art _________ ____________ ________ __________ _____________ ___ _ / | / | | / | \ | | W-O-W, I-T-'S F-R-E-E ! | / | \ |__________|__________/__________|__________|___________/ | \ / /______|----\ | Get the latest news and tips on MICROSOFT OFFICE |//////| | | Free weekly guide from award winning Woody Leonhard |//////| | | *** Rated 5 stars by "Office Computing" magazine *** |//////| | | Join now! WOW@wopr.com -or- |//////| | \________________________________________________________|______|____| / \ / \ / \ \___/ \___/ T h e I n t e r n e t T o u r B u s \___/ TODAY'S TOURBUS TOPIC: ASCII Art 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. I like the idea of delivering high tech stuff in a low tech medium. That's why I recommend you check out the WOW newsletter (see bus logo above) if you're a Microsoft Office user. WOW keeps you current with the latest Office news, tips & tricks. And now they're celebrating WOW's birthday with prizes for lucky readers. Check it out! +---------------------- BUYINGUIDE HAS ANSWERS ---------------------+ Sometimes finding the right software or hardware for the job is a monumental task. There are so many questions that the job becomes overwhelming. BuyinGuide has the answers to all your questions. We have information on hardware, software, REVIEWS, and giveaways in an easy to use, unbiased format. +-------------------- ------------------+ 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 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 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 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 :: JOIN THE CLUB ------------- Wanna talk to others who are into ASCII art? Join the ASCIIART mailing list by sending SUBSCRIBE ASCIIART to LISTSERV@LSV.UKY.EDU or visit the Usenet newsgroup "alt.ascii-art". As with any online discussion group, it's good form to listen for a while before you jump in with a posting of your own. Have a little fun with ASCII art. It's a wonderful low-tech medium to express yourself! / _\ ___ ___ /\_/\___ _ _ / / __ _| |_ ___ _ __ / \ \ \ / _ \/ _ \ \_ _/ _ \| | | | / / / _` | __/ _ \ '__// / _\ \ __/ __/ / \ (_) | |_| | / /__| (_| | || __/ | /\_/ \__/\___|\___| \_/\___/ \__,_| \____/\__,_|\__\___|_| \/ --Bob -------------------------------------------------------------------- I Feel Your Pain - But There Is A Cure! --> "Doctor Bob's Painless Guide To The Internet" <-- A NetGuide Magazine Hot Product of the Month Browse reviews & sample chapters at -------------------------------------------------------------------- =====================[ Tourbus Rider Information ]=================== The Internet Tourbus - U.S. Library of Congress ISSN #1094-2238 Copyright 1995-97, 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 =====================================================================