๐พ Archived View for gemini.circumlunar.space โบ users โบ adiabatic โบ ascii-art โบ iphone captured on 2023-09-28 at 16:16:06. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content
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I wanted to show you all a screenshot of my iPhone. However, I donโt want to add images to this capsule, so that left me with a bit of a dilemma. Then I realized that I could just make an ASCII-art iPhone, and have that.
Since we all see plenty of ASCII art in Geminispace but nobody talks about how to make any, I figured this might be more interesting than my least interesting post here.
First, letโs log our requirements.
I figure that the hard part will be figuring out the width. Letโs look at the top. Hereโs what we need to have room for:
Then thereโs everything else, really. We need it to be as wide as it needs to be to hold:
The height of the ASCII art should be tall enough to match the dimensions set by the widest width, whatever on-screen element that ends up being.
Oddly enough, all this will probably not fit on an iPhone screen unless the font is super tiny.
Letโs implement the top chunk and see what we get:
โญโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโฎ โ 23:59 โo o -- o oโ.ฤฑiI LTE [โ] โ โ.ฤฑiI LTE [โ] โฐโโโโโโโโโโโฏ โ
The top and sides are Box Drawing elements. โฤฑโ is a Turkish dotless i and the โ is a three-quarters-full Block Element.
I copied the right-side things over to the left side to check widths, and I added a bunch of space over on the top left, around the time display, to put the notch dead center. I couldnโt find a good circle with something in it that pairs with a circle that doesnโt have something in it. o/0 are different sizes and shapes on most fonts, and O is just too tall and narrow anyway.
What? U+2502 BOX DRAWINGS LIGHT VERTICAL isnโt in ASCII? Hereโs a nickel, grandpa โ get a computer that can run Windows 2000.
Now then. How much text can fit across a normal iPhone screen? In order to find out, Iโm going to use a test 100-character string composed of only lowercase and uppercase Is. The tenth character is uppercase because counting by tens is easier than counting by ones when you get close to 100:
iiiiiiiiiIiiiiiiiiiIiiiiiiiiiIiiiiiiiiiIiiiiiiiiiIiiiiiiiiiIiiiiiiiiiIiiiiiiiiiIiiiiiiiiiIiiiiiiiiiI
Now, to paste it in as many writing apps as I can and see how wide everything is.
Letโs just round this to an even 100. Add some space for button and UI elements and letโs see what we get. One nice thing about Visual Studio Code is that itโll show you how many columns you have selected, letting you find out if thereโs an equal amount of space on both the left and right sides of the notch.
โญโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโฎ โ 23:59 โo o -- o oโ .ฤฑiI LTE [โ] โ โ โฐโโโโโโโโโโโฏ โ โโญโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโฎโ โโโญโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโฎโโ โโโiiiiiiiiiIiiiiiiiiiIiiiiiiiiiIiiiiiiiiiIiiiiiiiiiIiiiiiiiiiIiiiiiiiiiIiiiiiiiiiIiiiiiiiiiIiiiiiiiiiIโโโ
Well, I wasnโt quite expecting this. If you have enough room for the widest possible text thatโll fit on an iPhone in portrait orientation, itโll look more like a 12.9โณ iPad Pro in portrait orientation. Seems like the winning play is to size the meat of your on-screen elements, then adjust the top of the ASCII art to match.
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