Text Art

Text mode is, to a large extent, a fixture of days gone by. Yet, its simplicity and elegance is unsurpassed by anything in the graphical world. In tribute to text, we now revisit a lost art: the art of text graphics.

Before we delve into this, a word or two should be said about how we can best appreciate text art. Text art looks best in text mode. I have tried to approximate text mode by using the courier font, but if you know how to copy the text and view it in text mode, that might be worth doing. Text art is best appreciated on old dumb terminals, where text mode is the only mode, but most of you aren't going to be looking at this on old dumb terminals, so just use your imagination; I've tried to help you along. Well, I've said more than two words, so let's begin!

> Ah! Isn't this monochrome refreshing! We're using a terminal now. Scroll down to see the first text graphic. Text Graphic #1: Steam Locomotive (Back when I was using a dumb terminal regularly, I used to have this file list automatically when I logged out from the Unix command line.) ** * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** * * * ** * * * ** XXXX X XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXX X XXXX XXXXX X X XXXXXX XXXX XXX XXXX XXXXX X XXXXX XXXXX X XXXX XXXX X XXXX XXXXX XXX X X X X X X XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX X X X X X X X X XXXXX XXXXX X XX X X X XX X X X X X X X X X OOOOOOO OOOOOOO OOOOOOO XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXX O O X O O X O O X X XXXX OX X================ * O O * O XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXX OOXXXXXXXX O O===========O===========O O O XX O O XX O XXXXXXXXX OOO OOOOOOO OOOOOOO OOOOOOO OOOO OOOO ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > The terminals I used to use didn't have separate arrow keys. We had to hold down the shift key while we pressed keys on the numeric keypad to move the cursor. Scroll down to see the next text graphic. Text Graphic #2: A Rose (This was sent to me in an e-mail by a person whose name happens to be Rose. Back then, I was using Elm.) .mM" IMIm ,mIM" ,MI00IM,mIMm "IMmm, ,IM:000IM:0IM, ,m" "IMMIMMIMm:0IM::000IM00==mm ,mIM" ,mIM::0000MIM::00000IM:000mIMIM" ,mMIMIMIIMIMM:0000000mM:0000000IMIMIMIMMM" IMM::0000000IMM:00000M:0000000IIM::00000MM, "IMM:000000000MM::0M:000000IM::000000000IM, "IMm:0000000IMMM:000000IM:000000000000IM, "Mm:00000000IM:00000MM:000000000000000IM, IM:00000000IM:00000MM:00000000000000000IM, MM:0000000IM:000000IM:00000000000000000IM "IM:0000000IM:000000IM:0000000000000000IM;. "IM:0000000MM:0000000IM:000000000IMMMMm IM:0000000IM:000000IM::00mIMIMM""""MMMM "IM:0000000IM:00000mIMIMM"".MMMMmM""M IMm::00000IM:000IIMM000MMMM00MM000'''''' "IMMIMIMMIMM:0IMMMMMMMMMM0000"'''' ,IM". . ."IMIM". . . .,mMMMMMMMM" ,IM . . . .,IMM". . . ,mMMMMMMMMM" IM. . . .,mIIMM,. . ..mMMMMMMMMMM" ,M"..,mIMMIMMIMMIMmmmMMMMMMMM" IM.,IMI""" ""IIMMMMMMMMMMM ;IMIM" ""IMMMMMMM "" "IMMMMM "IMMM "IMM, "IMM "MM, IMM, IMMIMMIMMIMM, "IMM_,..M .,mIMMIMMIMM, ,mIMM, IM ..."IM, ,IMMM' . . . "IMM.\ "M, IMM ,IM". . ..> >/:; IM \ M, .mIM' . . . / .:"IM.\ MM "MM, ,M". . .> >/.;mIMIMIM,\ M ,IM' ,M . . . / . .:;,IMIMIMMM IMM ,M" . . /. :mIM" "IM,:M ,IM'. . . / . .:;,mIM" `"IMM IMM IM. . /.mM""IMI ,IM . . / . .:;,mIM" "IMMMMM MM,./ ,mM"M' IM'. . / . .;,mIM" "IIMMM ,IMIM,.,IM" IM . . / . .,mIM" IMMMMMMM' """ `IM,. / ;,mIM" IIMMMII "IMI, /,mIM" __IMMMI "IMMMM" ''""IMMMI "" IMM IMM__ IMM""" IMM IMM __IMM """IMM IMM IMM IMM__ IMM""" IMM IMM IMM IMM IMM IMM IMM ___IMM '''''''IMM IMM IMM IMM IMM IMM IMM IMM IMM IMM IMM IMM > Dumb terminals are called that for a reason. The only thing they do is transmit characters to and receive characters from the mainframe, where all the processing is done. Scroll down to see the next text graphic. Text Graphic #3: The American Flag (Drawn by me on a dumb terminal. Difficult to get the stars right) ------------------------------------------------------------------ | * * * * * * | | | * * * * * |:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::| | * * * * * * | | | * * * * * |:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::| | * * * * * * | | | * * * * * |:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::| | * * * * * * | | | * * * * * |:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::| | * * * * * * | | |_______________________|:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::| | | |:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::| | | |:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::| |_________________________________________________________________| > You are encouraged to submit you own text graphics for this page! > logout

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