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      ASCII (ask'-ee) is an acronym for "American Standard Code for
      Information Interchange." This standard was developed by the American
      National Standards Institute. It is a coding scheme which assigns numeric
      values to letters, numbers, punctuation marks, and other certain characters
      such as control codes. By standardizing the values for these characters,
      ASCII enables computers and computer programs to exchange
      information. ASCII is the basic coding system which computers use to
      communicate with one another.

      The ASCII character set consists of 128 characters (numbered from 0 to
      127) which are standard on nearly all types of computers. The first 32
      characters (0 to 31) are assigned to communication and printer control
      codes-- non-printing characters --these include the control codes for
      signalling end of transmission, a beep, escape, backspace, and more.
      The last ASCII character, 127, is another control code representing
      the 'Delete' key. The other characters (32 to 126) are the ones which
      appear on an American "standard" keyboard. These are the
      characters which are used to create ASCII art.

 The ASCII characters used in ASCII art are the 95 characters from #32 to #126, as
 follows.
      032 [space] 048 0       064 @       080 P       096 `       112 p
      033 !       049 1       065 A       081 Q       097 a       113 q
      034 "       050 2       066 B       082 R       098 b       114 r
      035 #       051 3       067 C       083 S       099 c       115 s
      036 $       052 4       068 D       084 T       100 d       116 t
      037 %       053 5       069 E       085 U       101 e       117 u
      038 &       054 6       070 F       086 V       102 f       118 v
      039 '       055 7       071 G       087 W       103 g       119 w
      040 (       056 8       072 H       088 X       104 h       120 x
      041 )       057 9       073 I       089 Y       105 i       121 y
      042 *       058 :       074 J       090 Z       106 j       122 z
      043 +       059 ;       075 K       091 [       107 k       123 {
      044 ,       060 <       076 L       092 \       108 l       124 |
      045 -       061 =       077 M       093 ]       109 m       125 }
      046 .       062 >       078 N       094 ^       110 n       126 ~
      047 /       063 ?       079 O       095 _       111 o

      There is another character set which consists of the ASCII character set
      with another 128 characters (128-255), for special characters such as the
      copyright symbol and various accented letters. Some people have
      inaccurately called this set "extended ASCII" or "high ASCII". These higher
      number coded characters are assigned to variable sets of characters by
      computer manufacturers and software developers. You should **NOT**
      use these characters in ASCII art, though, because they are not
      standardized -- even though the addition of more characters offers an
      opportunity for more flexibility in creating an ASCII picture, it really
      decreases the number of people who can properly view your creation. This
      defeats the purpose of the universalitality of ASCII art.

      These extended codes are not as interchangable among different
      programs and computers as are the standard ASCII characters. IBM, for
      example, uses a group of extended ASCII characters generally called the
      IBM extended character set for its personal computers. Apple Computer
      uses a similar but different group of extended characters for its Macintosh
      line of computers. Thus, whereas the ASCII character set is universal
      among microcomputer hardware and software, the extended characters
      can be interpreted correctly only if a program, computer, or printer is
      designed for it. This is why these characters are not included in the ASCII
      art pictures. ASCII pictures can look very skewed if they have the
      misplaced characters in them. (Just imagine a picture with solid squares
      where someone had carefully placed a ¿ character!)

      By keeping to the 32-126 range of ASCII codes, not only will people see
      your ASCII artwork as you intended them to view it, but you will maximize
      the number of your viewers.
 

      Essentially, ASCII artwork denotes pictures which are created without
      using graphics. They are "non-graphical graphics". Its palette is limited to
      the symbols and characters that you have available to you on your
      computer keyboard. Specifically those 95 which are listed on the above
      ASCII chart. International symbols, such as the UK pound sterling sign, are
      not considered to be ASCII characters because they are not universal on
      all systems.

      In order to view ASCII art correctly, you must display it in a font that has
      uniform character width. This is also known as a "fixed-pitch font." Your
      browser should have some provision for setting a fixed font. Fixed-pitch
      fonts include "Courier", "FixedSys", or "Monaco". This is important
      because viewing ASCII art in proportional spacing will cause it to look
      skewed. ASCII Art is not made in proportional fonts because the letter
      widths vary from font to font. Even if you know what font the pictures were
      created in, it still tends to look skewed. ASCII art is universal-- but only if it
      is created and viewed in a fixed-pitch font and without any non-ASCII
      characters.

      I get a lot of mail asking me why the ASCII art looks fine on my website
      and it looks skewed on their system. Check the font!!!! ASCII art **must**
      be created and viewed in the fixed-pitch font. (AOL and WebTV users--
      you may ONLY have capabilities for a proportional font-- you will not be able to
      see the ASCII art properly unless you copy/paste it to notepad or a text
      editor in the proper font; or unless you print it out). If you have general
      questions about fonts and/or text editors, please see the FAQs.
 

      ASCII Art is the dinosaur of computer graphics. It can be useful since
      many people's e-mail programs do not view graphics files without the help
      of another program. Some e-mail programs don't allow anything except
      text files to be sent and/or received. And most people are leery about
      downloading an unknown attachment. Using ASCII characters to create a
      text drawing allows pictures to be added to nearly all email. The only catch
      is that the reader must view the ASCII art picture in a fixed-pitch font-- and
      nearly all mail readers have an option for fixed-pitch fonts.

      Here are some good uses for for ASCII art:
           -to add pictures to text email
           -for illustrations of subject matter
           -to create flow charts or diagrams
           -for birthday/holiday greetings
           -for signature files
           -to liven-up dull but essential business email
           -to illustrate e-zines
           -for use on text-only webpages
             (some people still use Lynx and other non-graphical browsers,
             believe it or not!)
           -for use on any webpages
             (text pictures loads faster than the large graphics and
             many people turn graphics off)
           -to create coloring pages for children and adults
           -for use on BBSs (bulletin board systems)
           -for use on MUDs and MUGs (multi-user dungeons and games)
           -for use on mIRC (internet relay chat)
           -to print out for Holiday cards and greetings
           -just for fun and aesthetic value!

      I continue to be amazed at the number of pictures which that can
      be created from such a limited scope of keyboard characters.
 

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