3 ms·

Text art tools

95 points by surprisetalk 4mo ago

california-og 3mo ago
This is my list, thanks for sharing! It started out as a list for ASCII and textmode art editors but grew to include all kinds of alternative design tools. I've hosted two workshops where the assigment is to create a printed zine without the use of any Adobe software. I give this list to the participants to explore. The scans of these zines and more info can be found here: https://tekstien-marginaalien-keskus.aalto.fi/residenssi/heikki/blog/004-december-1/ https://tekstien-marginaalien-keskus.aalto.fi/residenssi/hei... https://tekstien-marginaalien-keskus.aalto.fi/residenssi/heikki/blog/006-february-2/ https://tekstien-marginaalien-keskus.aalto.fi/residenssi/hei... I think its crazy that my University (Aalto) pays over a million euros in licencing fees to Adobe every year while the design teachers are chronically overworked and understaffed. My ultimate goal is to persuade the institution to ditch Adobe and switch to FOSS tools, and hire more staff & teachers.
- dddw 3mo ago
  Nice! Great goal and very cool zines!
- citizenpaul 3mo ago
  One of the.big hurdles is pantone support. At some point most places want their design to hit the real world and pantone has that market cornered. I dont just mean the technical parts pantone has expensive licensing that most FOSS doesnt and wont ever pay. There is more than one toll troll.in that marker.
  - bartvk 3mo ago
    I am guessing that pantone is a bunch of colors that are coded a certain way? Isn't there a common mechanism across design software? Like PDF is the platform agnostic way of sharing documents?
    - WillAdams 3mo ago
      It is a licensing mechanism, a list of ink formulas, and (most importantly) an entire eco-system of ink swatches and sample books --- a designer can get a customer to agree to a colour, tear off a pair of ink chips, give one to the customer and one to the printer, and the expectation is that the printed piece will _exactly_ match the chips. There are lots of alternatives --- the Glass Container Manufacturing Institute has a set of swatches which are used for packaging which the industry has agreed on. That said, there isn't much spot colour work left, and most of what there is, is brand-specific, or done for budgetary reasons (long runs w/ just two colours).
  - derrasterpunkt 3mo ago
    There is no Pantone Support in Adobe Software since 2022/2023.
    - citizenpaul 3mo ago
      Oh wow really? I didnt know that. Did they launch a competing service or something?
- jan_Inkepa 3mo ago
  i see pablodraw up top - you know your stuff and have good taste!
- codazoda 3mo ago
  Nice. I love zines and I’ll enjoy checking out those other links.
- wxw 3mo ago
  So good, thanks for compiling this list.
california-og 3mo ago
Slanted magazine did an issue recently on digital tools and compiled their own list: https://www.slanted.de/news/digital-tools/ https://www.slanted.de/news/digital-tools/ The issue has screenshots of many of them: https://www.slanted.de/product/slanted-magazine-47-digital-tools/ https://www.slanted.de/product/slanted-magazine-47-digital-t...
- agys 3mo ago
  The layout of the publication is almost unbearable… Considering that it’s a magazine a bout (graphic-) design I’d say they failed miserably.
  - monocultured 3mo ago
    Well, so was the Dada journal, but experimentation is supposed to push boundries. https://monoskop.org/Dada_(journal) https://monoskop.org/Dada_(journal)
    - agys 3mo ago
      Couldn't agree more. The issue here is that it doesn't feel experimental or innovative at all. It just follows some weak design trends.
- codazoda 3mo ago
  Deleted. I somehow managed to reply to the wrong thread.
scriptsmith 3mo ago
I made these to create styled text art for the MOTD of my university's HPC login node: https://github.com/ScriptSmith/tart https://github.com/ScriptSmith/tart https://tart.sh/ https://tart.sh/
- LoganDark 3mo ago
  Hah, another tart: https://github.com/jtdaugherty/tart/ https://github.com/jtdaugherty/tart/
agys 3mo ago
The ASCII playground is missing: https://play.ertdfgcvb.xyz https://play.ertdfgcvb.xyz
gottlobflegel 3mo ago
How does notion manage to make this site, which is essentially just a static table, take several seconds to show any meaningful content?
- california-og 3mo ago
  Tell me about it... I have plans to migrate this to a static HTML at some point.
  - cardboard9926 3mo ago
    How about are.na?
  - codazoda 3mo ago
    I’d be willing to help with that, pro bono. I like my tech minimal, so I’m a fan of small and fast html/css with a bit of JS when necessary. Today this is probably a quick project with an AI tool and a Notion MCP. Contact info in my profile. I’m also the creator of the minimalist framework, Neat CSS. https://neat.joeldare.com https://neat.joeldare.com
primaprashant 3mo ago
I built this [1] for myself so that I can comment lgtm in PR comments with an ASCII art. Pretty silly but fun. [1]: LGTM ASCII Art as a Service - https://lgtms.app/ https://lgtms.app/
ggeorgovassilis 3mo ago
Wrote this for fun over a decade ago. Still around. https://animasci.com/ https://animasci.com/
WillAdams 3mo ago
Made me instantly think of Glenn Reid's nifty "TouchType.app" for the NeXT, which I still really miss --- these days I just convert to paths and use Macromedia Freehand/MX (or a proprietary tool for the CNC machine I support on the side).
aghilmort 3mo ago
super cool roster! niche text generators come to mind, e.g., text version of regex train tracks / git traces come to mind. png/svg version https://regexper.com/#%5Cd%7B5%7D%28-%5Cd%7B4%7D%29%3F https://regexper.com/#%5Cd%7B5%7D%28-%5Cd%7B4%7D%29%3F idk if any robust ascii lib exists, same for things like root cause or swimlanes etc. have done some 1-off 1-shots of similar for AI input/output is primary frame of reference, and plenty of others have attempted same to varying success / nice to see ASCII graphics get some new life in them
Lunaplushie07 3mo ago
[dead]

95 points by surprisetalk 4mo ago

This is my list, thanks for sharing! It started out as a list for ASCII and textmode art editors but grew to include all kinds of alternative design tools. I've hosted two workshops where the assigment is to create a printed zine without the use of any Adobe software. I give this list to the participants to explore. The scans of these zines and more info can be found here: https://tekstien-marginaalien-keskus.aalto.fi/residenssi/heikki/blog/004-december-1/ https://tekstien-marginaalien-keskus.aalto.fi/residenssi/hei... https://tekstien-marginaalien-keskus.aalto.fi/residenssi/heikki/blog/006-february-2/ https://tekstien-marginaalien-keskus.aalto.fi/residenssi/hei... I think its crazy that my University (Aalto) pays over a million euros in licencing fees to Adobe every year while the design teachers are chronically overworked and understaffed. My ultimate goal is to persuade the institution to ditch Adobe and switch to FOSS tools, and hire more staff & teachers.

dddw 3mo ago
Nice! Great goal and very cool zines!
citizenpaul 3mo ago
One of the.big hurdles is pantone support. At some point most places want their design to hit the real world and pantone has that market cornered. I dont just mean the technical parts pantone has expensive licensing that most FOSS doesnt and wont ever pay. There is more than one toll troll.in that marker.
- bartvk 3mo ago
  I am guessing that pantone is a bunch of colors that are coded a certain way? Isn't there a common mechanism across design software? Like PDF is the platform agnostic way of sharing documents?
  - WillAdams 3mo ago
    It is a licensing mechanism, a list of ink formulas, and (most importantly) an entire eco-system of ink swatches and sample books --- a designer can get a customer to agree to a colour, tear off a pair of ink chips, give one to the customer and one to the printer, and the expectation is that the printed piece will _exactly_ match the chips. There are lots of alternatives --- the Glass Container Manufacturing Institute has a set of swatches which are used for packaging which the industry has agreed on. That said, there isn't much spot colour work left, and most of what there is, is brand-specific, or done for budgetary reasons (long runs w/ just two colours).
- derrasterpunkt 3mo ago
  There is no Pantone Support in Adobe Software since 2022/2023.
  - citizenpaul 3mo ago
    Oh wow really? I didnt know that. Did they launch a competing service or something?
jan_Inkepa 3mo ago
i see pablodraw up top - you know your stuff and have good taste!
codazoda 3mo ago
Nice. I love zines and I’ll enjoy checking out those other links.
wxw 3mo ago
So good, thanks for compiling this list.

california-og 3mo ago

Slanted magazine did an issue recently on digital tools and compiled their own list: https://www.slanted.de/news/digital-tools/ https://www.slanted.de/news/digital-tools/ The issue has screenshots of many of them: https://www.slanted.de/product/slanted-magazine-47-digital-tools/ https://www.slanted.de/product/slanted-magazine-47-digital-t...

agys 3mo ago
The layout of the publication is almost unbearable… Considering that it’s a magazine a bout (graphic-) design I’d say they failed miserably.
- monocultured 3mo ago
  Well, so was the Dada journal, but experimentation is supposed to push boundries. https://monoskop.org/Dada_(journal) https://monoskop.org/Dada_(journal)
  - agys 3mo ago
    Couldn't agree more. The issue here is that it doesn't feel experimental or innovative at all. It just follows some weak design trends.
codazoda 3mo ago
Deleted. I somehow managed to reply to the wrong thread.

scriptsmith 3mo ago

I made these to create styled text art for the MOTD of my university's HPC login node: https://github.com/ScriptSmith/tart https://github.com/ScriptSmith/tart https://tart.sh/ https://tart.sh/

LoganDark 3mo ago
Hah, another tart: https://github.com/jtdaugherty/tart/ https://github.com/jtdaugherty/tart/

agys 3mo ago

The ASCII playground is missing: https://play.ertdfgcvb.xyz https://play.ertdfgcvb.xyz

gottlobflegel 3mo ago

How does notion manage to make this site, which is essentially just a static table, take several seconds to show any meaningful content?

california-og 3mo ago
Tell me about it... I have plans to migrate this to a static HTML at some point.
- cardboard9926 3mo ago
  How about are.na?
- codazoda 3mo ago
  I’d be willing to help with that, pro bono. I like my tech minimal, so I’m a fan of small and fast html/css with a bit of JS when necessary. Today this is probably a quick project with an AI tool and a Notion MCP. Contact info in my profile. I’m also the creator of the minimalist framework, Neat CSS. https://neat.joeldare.com https://neat.joeldare.com

primaprashant 3mo ago

I built this [1] for myself so that I can comment lgtm in PR comments with an ASCII art. Pretty silly but fun. [1]: LGTM ASCII Art as a Service - https://lgtms.app/ https://lgtms.app/

ggeorgovassilis 3mo ago

Wrote this for fun over a decade ago. Still around. https://animasci.com/ https://animasci.com/

WillAdams 3mo ago

Made me instantly think of Glenn Reid's nifty "TouchType.app" for the NeXT, which I still really miss --- these days I just convert to paths and use Macromedia Freehand/MX (or a proprietary tool for the CNC machine I support on the side).

aghilmort 3mo ago

super cool roster! niche text generators come to mind, e.g., text version of regex train tracks / git traces come to mind. png/svg version https://regexper.com/#%5Cd%7B5%7D%28-%5Cd%7B4%7D%29%3F https://regexper.com/#%5Cd%7B5%7D%28-%5Cd%7B4%7D%29%3F idk if any robust ascii lib exists, same for things like root cause or swimlanes etc. have done some 1-off 1-shots of similar for AI input/output is primary frame of reference, and plenty of others have attempted same to varying success / nice to see ASCII graphics get some new life in them

Lunaplushie07 3mo ago

[dead]