U _____ u _ ____ U ___ u __ __ U _____ u _
__ __\| ___"|/|"| U /"___| \/"_ \/U|' \/ '|u\| ___"|/U|"|u
\"\ /"/ | _|"U | | u \| | u | | | |\| |\/| |/ | _|" \| |/
/\ \ /\ / /\ | |___ \| |/__ | |/__.-,_| |_| | | | | | | |___ |_|
U \ V V / U|_____| |_____| \____|\_)-\___/ |_| |_| |_____| (_)
.-,_\ /\ /_,-.<< >> // \\ _// \\ \\ <<,-,,-. << >> |||_
\_)-' '-(_/(__) (__)_")("_)__)(__) (__) (./ \.) (__) (__)(__)_)
To
PAT or JK's Text ASCII Art Generator (TAAG)
Now supporting over 300 different text art fonts!
Updates
June. 16, 2008: Some big updates in the ways the fonts are displayed, be sure to clear your cache. Firefox users should now see a smoother output. I also added a "Generate Image" option that appears under your output text. Right now it's set up only to work for FIGlet fonts.
Let me know if you have any problems.
Check out the main blog
for more updates.
How to Use
This web application allows you to type in ASCII Art fonts.
In the top frame you will a control panel. To type in a font, simply select a font from the font
drop down list and then type some text in the large text input area. The resulting ASCII Art text
will be displayed in this bottom frame. The additional options in the above panels will allow you to
add certain details to the output. Use the test all feature to view
all of the fonts at once.
What are FIGlet Fonts? What are AOL Macro Fonts? What are Other Fonts?
FIGlet Fonts: You can get the full story here.
In a nutshell though, in the early 90's, a group of people came up with the idea of creating ASCII Art
text. They created a standard font format for the art and a program that would allow you to create
your own fonts and type in other people's fonts.
The phenomena spread and
100's of people created ASCII Art FIGlet fonts. These fonts make up the bulk of the fonts you see
in this program. They are created with monospaced text, and they should look good in any font size.
AOL Macro Fonts: In the late 90's, little hacking programs known as "proggies" became popular in
the underground warez scene of AOL (examples:
AOHell and
Fate X).
As these programs became more popular, many begain to feature "Macro Shops", which were ASCII Art
development areas. The user could develop their own ASCII Art and then scroll the text in an AOL
chat room.
Most "Macro Shops" included a feature that allowed the user to type in large
ASCII Art text. These fonts had no connection to FIGlet fonts, and since they were developed for
AOL, they were made to look good in point size 10 of the Arial font (which AOL used at the time). This
was a non-monospaced environment, so these fonts were harder to create and they do not look good in
anything outside that point size and font. They also may appear different on different computers.
Back in the day I always thought these fonts showed a remarkable amount of artistic talent and they
are what inspired me to write this program (though after discovering FIGlet fonts I find many of them to be
just as good if not better than the AOL fonts). I did my best to track down as many of the AOL fonts as I could. What you see listed here
is what I was able to find (they were remarkably hard to find - and I thank everyone who helped
me out!).
Other Fonts: When conceptualizing this program, I decided to come up with a format for non-AOL fonts
that I would release so others could create fonts and send them in.
I converted two ASCII Art letterings I found online into this format. However, I then discovered
FIGlet fonts and realized this "Other" category really wasn't necessary. FIGlet fonts are widely
popular and have a standard font format. If you are interested in developing your own font, I recommend
you check out JavE, which is a popular ASCII Art program that
will allow you to easily create a FIGlet font (don't forget to send me your font when you're done!).
At some point in the future I
will convert the two fonts from the "Other" category into FIGlet fonts, so this category will disappear.
What can these fonts be used for?
You can use the text that's generated in an email signature, you can use it in the comments of code
you write (if you write code), you can put the text up on your webpage, basically anything you can think of.
If you're going to do something where you make a profit off of the font I'd recommend contacting the author of
the font and making sure things are cool. If you can't contact them,
I'd recommend
emailing the FIGlet mailing list and asking them what you should do.
What is "Horizontal Text Smushing"?
This is a feature of FIGlet fonts. "Text smushing" moves the letters close together, and in some cases, causes
them to overlap. To see this in action, select the "Standard" font, type some text and then check/uncheck this
option. Because FIGlet allows the font author to control text smushing, different fonts will have different
responses to the smushing option.
