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From: kgeorge@itchy.serv.net (Koshy George)
Subject: Re: Help save ascii art from destruction by variable fonts
Date: 1996/12/24
Message-ID: <59pqne$jjm@brockman.serv.net>#1/1
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distribution: world
references: <59ot4e$cu9@shiva.usa.net>
organization: ServNet Internet Services
newsgroups: alt.ascii-art


to digitize your ascii 
----------------------
You could print out your ascii art
(watch out for page breaks) in fixed font,
or any font that resembles your intended art,
then scan the prints using a scanner.
Alternatively you could take sreen shots
and a display of your ascii picture by
various screen capture routines that comes along
with a usual image processing software.
(lviewpro in the pc, has this)

about variable font size and ascii art
--------------------------------------
well our fears are well grounded.
The future of ascii art is in danger.
Because browsers are becoming more sophisticated
to display the text in the font the users choose to.

let me describe what i understand
of this scenario.

Usually ascii is displayed in fixed font.
This fixed font itself has got different shapes in
different computers and printers.
Fixed font on my display wont b exactly equal
to the fixed font of your display.
True type fonts are a class of fonts
that will guarantee that they would look alike
exactly in any machine or printer.
So as ascii artists,
we need to find a true type font
that looks almost similar to a fixed font.
Courier New is an example of such a font,
but I haven't found that it is satisfactory.
It has too much inter line distance.
And if ascii artists and ascii viewers stick to
that true type font, then only we can
guarantee picture correctness.
This is too much to ask and against
the principles of ascii.

I also include a small article which
I had written long back on ascii art
in my next post.



						-koshy george
  



John Debruyn (jdebruyn@access.usa.net) wrote:
: The ascii art audience must be dwindling because ascii art is becoming
: more difficult to communicate.  The problem is the continuing growth of
: the number of email, newsgroup and Web users who have their email
: reader/editors and WWW browsers set to variable width character fonts.  On 
: AOL for example users don't have a choice of a fixed width font setting
: for their email or the AOL browser.

: I did a beta test of an email picture post card with a picture using ascii
: art.  To my dismay most of the beta testers did not have their email
: reader/editors set to the traditional fixed width font (where Ms and Ns
: are the same width) so that the ascii art came through to them as an
: unintelligible mix mash.  (This also explains why I am seeing fewer and
: fewer signature lines that use ascii art--many correspondents cannot make
: heads or tails of it.) 

: I put the ascii art up on the Web using the HTML <pre> code.  My browser
: which is set to a fixed width font set picked the item up really well,
: but again the other beta testers came up with unintelligible mix mash.
: You can take a look at what I am working with at:

: http://www.usa.net/~jdebruyn/postcard.html

: Does any one have a lead to software that can be used to convert
: "traditional" (not grey scale) ascii art into a gif or jpeg so that we can
: put the ascii art up as a graphic image.  That way the addressees of the
: card who think they got mix mash can go to the graphic via the Web URL. 

: I was thinking that computer fax technology could be used to convert
: a page of ascii art into a graphic of some kind.  Your thoughts
: appreciated.

: Thanks,

: John

: -- John DeBruyn, Denver, Colorado, The Mile High City, USA 
: (jdebruyn@usa.net)


--
<(o)> Koshy George, <(o)> http://www.serv.net/~kgeorge <(o)>