While looking up some old articles about ASCII art, I came across a very intriguing FAQ from 1994 that didn't make much sense at first glance. This is what it said:
o Gray scale pictures - These :<!!:
create the illusion of gray shades ..:::tNi@Nin!+: :::xr
by using letters for their light '!)Q88i@8888NNidbo@Ni8ir
emitting value (assuming you are .s:S988TR88RX*###RB8888i:x
viewing light letters on a dark x+RRX88888NL#?!< :<?#RR888bX
background). Below is an chart !MN*#M#*BRR#8iXxi@NUX!MN88888:
showing the light values of <x@T!M!::(R8H@888888888xX88888#=
various characters. To the x8W8Ui@!~!XMMM9M8RRRRBMMM!T588.
right is an example of gray .N8888M<<<~!#MXMHM8N888RMR<9R888N!.
scale art. This is an image XQ888M!<:::sxXU!?MTT222#MM<?M8888~!
of Einstein I made from a GIF, 988NMMf<!!~`"!Rk:X!"""#*N!:~!T588 !
using Gifscii for the Mac. "R(#MF `< "!!~ ~<9XN#88XX<:
See ASCII Art Resources "%/9" x~ :L XH?R?M888x%
for more examples. xi/ ~M:u::~ <88>x<:<uuUF<~*"<?8!~
X38M::#M88R::d<88k9bxH888f4r o<<Ri
Darker .'`,^:";~ '!88N!!X6?M&i8#<88Rt88NMR9%!!'8:<?8!
/\ -_+<>i!lI? #R?<:~B:M88~ 488H~"88XM8~ ~HRtxH#
/||\ /\|()1{}[] +++x8!:<'8!@8!. ""!:.#8M8# ~<!@!M?::
|| rcvunxzjft -<!#\x~:.?<M~ <<::;;>> ?%8xx!:i:`MHbLX
\||/ LCJUYXZO0Q :*:!!:nM.~!~`<<! <`~" d<?98NHRNi!?888eu.
\/ oahkbdpqwm ` `xH98MN. '~~:. ?:x888!888xd88888f
Lighter *WMB8&%$#@ :@8R?R?88ex .xuux98 WM888M88(W888888f
.oX"#MMX!!R88b ~"##**".d8f?RRX8PW8888888f
Light value scale .u8888iXMMnWU7T#@s. @88kX888RN88888888f
from Jorn Barger. .@888888NK9*MR88N86Q:.. x8T888R#88888888888f
x8888888888@iX#M@8888888N88888#X@88888888888f
Gray scale pic d88888888888kM888NN868RRRRRRR5b@8888888888888f
from The Scarecrow. '8888888888888!M888888888888888888888888888888!
FAQ - ASCII Art Questions & Answers, "Date: 16 May 1994 14:01:58 -0500" [http://music.hyperreal.org/artists/b12/gallery/ascii/ascii.faq] (accessed 2024-10-05)
While I was reading this, I skipped the paragraph of explanation and just looked at the light value scale for ASCII art, which is clearly wrong. What it says is "darker" is actually "lighter," and vice-versa! How can that be? This makes no sense!
The reason for this is fairly simple. The artwork was created to be viewed in a terminal, where the whole screen has a black background and the text is white. Nowadays it's still possible to find the text content created in this Usenet era (alt.binaries.pictures.ascii, in this case) in archives on the web. As the Usenet text was plain text, it's typically converted to HTML without adding any sort of formatting or styling. Without styling, the default web browser styles are applied, and by default you will see a webpage with white background and black text.
If you invert the colors, the scale makes sense and you can see the Albert Einstein.
This makes me wonder how many times you see ASCII art was was supposed to be inverted, and if there is even a term for "white" ASCII art and "black" ASCII art. And if those are the terms, would "white" ASCII art be the one with white text or white background?
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