# Evenly spaced text on this message board for ascii art

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evenly-spaced-text-on-this-message-board-for-ascii-art/611348>\
**Category:** About This Message Board\
**Created:** [January 31, 2012, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evenly-spaced-text-on-this-message-board-for-ascii-art/611348 "2012-01-31T22:38:55Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 19\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Darryl\_Lict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7cd45c/32.png) [@Darryl\_Lict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darryl_Lict)\
**Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evenly-spaced-text-on-this-message-board-for-ascii-art/611348/1 "2012-01-31T22:38:55Z")

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How do you force evenly spaced fonts on this message board if you are trying to show some ascii art? I only see variable width fonts on the drop down menu. I would think _Courier New_ would work, but it doesn’t seem to.

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**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\
**Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evenly-spaced-text-on-this-message-board-for-ascii-art/611348/2 "2012-01-31T22:42:46Z")

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> [@darryl lict](#):
>
> how do you force evenly spaced fonts on this message board if you are trying to show some ascii art? I only see variable width fonts on the drop down menu. I would think _courier new_ would work, but it doesn’t seem to.

[code] … [/code]

```auto

  xx
xxxxxx
  xx

```

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\
**Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evenly-spaced-text-on-this-message-board-for-ascii-art/611348/3 "2012-01-31T22:47:59Z")

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Incidentally, my original draft reply had “[CODE] … [/CODE]”. I used preview to check that it worked, and because all the message apart from the part in

[QUOTE]  
tags and the part in

```auto

 tags was in capitals, the vBulletin system converted the whole message into lower case. I think that's a bug, but perhaps not one worth worrying about.
```

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**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\
**Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evenly-spaced-text-on-this-message-board-for-ascii-art/611348/4 "2012-01-31T22:50:30Z")

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> [@Giles](#):
>
> Incidentally, my original draft reply had “[CODE] … [/CODE]”. I used preview to check that it worked, and because all the message apart from the part in QUOTE tags and the part in
> 
> ```auto
> 
> tags was in capitals, the vBulletin system converted the whole message into lower case. I think that's a bug, but perhaps not one worth worrying about.
> 
> ```

I’ve had that happen to me, too. All capitalized gets converted to all lower case. Definitely a bug.

ETA: Had to delete the brackets from your “quote”, else the coding is screwed up. Not a bug, but a good way to mess with other posters trying to quote you! 🙂

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\
**Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evenly-spaced-text-on-this-message-board-for-ascii-art/611348/5 "2012-01-31T22:57:50Z")

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```auto

hey this works  

```

cool. 😉

One tip that I use is to click the toolbar quote button. Then change the word QUOTE to CODE. That way I know all the syntax is correct. I also do that for spoiler tags. Saves a lot of hassle.

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**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\
**Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evenly-spaced-text-on-this-message-board-for-ascii-art/611348/6 "2012-01-31T23:03:16Z")

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> [@darryl lict](#):
>
> i would think _courier new_ would work, but it doesn’t seem to.

Is it just spaces that cause trouble? Try a substitute like & # 1 6 0 ;  
(I’ve left spaces in that code to display it.)

xx  
mmmmmm  
…  
&nbsp;&nbsp;xx

Do NOT preview the message, as preview changes the space codes to spaces, then they disappear. :smack:

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\
**Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evenly-spaced-text-on-this-message-board-for-ascii-art/611348/7 "2012-01-31T23:06:33Z")

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> [@septimus](#):
>
> Is it just spaces that cause trouble? Try a substitute like & # 1 6 0 ;  
> (I’ve left spaces in that code to display it.)
> 
> xx  
> mmmmmm  
> …  
> xx
> 
> Do NOT preview the message, as preview changes the space codes to spaces, then they disappear. :smack:

And you can’t see what I did with “Quote” either, as that blows the “real” spaces away. :smack:  
Trust me; I just used the six keystrokes “& # 1 6 0 ;” for each space.

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**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\
**Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evenly-spaced-text-on-this-message-board-for-ascii-art/611348/8 "2012-01-31T23:12:08Z")

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> [@John\_Mace](#):
>
> I’ve had that happen to me, too. All capitalized gets converted to all lower case. Definitely a bug.

This is what we software professionals call “a feature.”

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Darryl\_Lict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7cd45c/32.png) [@Darryl\_Lict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darryl_Lict)\
**Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evenly-spaced-text-on-this-message-board-for-ascii-art/611348/9 "2012-01-31T23:14:59Z")

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Thanks guys. That works!

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\
**Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evenly-spaced-text-on-this-message-board-for-ascii-art/611348/10 "2012-01-31T23:20:50Z")

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> [@cookingwithgas](#):
>
> this is what we software professionals call “a feature.”

it’s a bug when it changes user names and quoted text!

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\
**Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evenly-spaced-text-on-this-message-board-for-ascii-art/611348/11 "2012-01-31T23:22:03Z")

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[quote=“Giles, post:3, topic:611348”]

[noparse]Incidentally, my original draft reply had “[CODE] … [/CODE]”. I used preview to check that it worked, and because all the message apart from the part in

> [@](#):
>
> tags and the part in
> 
> ```auto
> 
> tags was in capitals, the vBulletin system converted the whole message into lower case. I think that's a bug, but perhaps not one worth worrying about.[/noparse]
> 
> ```

It’s not a bug, it’s to prevent people from typing in a long post and SHOUTING the whole time. IIRC.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Darryl\_Lict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7cd45c/32.png) [@Darryl\_Lict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darryl_Lict)\
**Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evenly-spaced-text-on-this-message-board-for-ascii-art/611348/12 "2012-01-31T23:25:28Z")

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> [@septimus](#):
>
> is it just spaces that cause trouble? Try a substitute like & # 1 6 0 ;  
> (i’ve left spaces in that code to display it.)
> 
> xx  
> mmmmmm  
> …  
> Xx
> 
> do not preview the message, as preview changes the space codes to spaces, then they disappear. :smack:

* * *

{|&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;|}  
}|&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;|{  
{|&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;|}  
}|&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;|{  
&nbsp;&nbsp;{&nbsp;}  
&nbsp;&nbsp;}&nbsp;{  
&nbsp;&nbsp;{&nbsp;}  
&nbsp;&nbsp;}&nbsp;{

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Darryl\_Lict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7cd45c/32.png) [@Darryl\_Lict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darryl_Lict)\
**Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evenly-spaced-text-on-this-message-board-for-ascii-art/611348/13 "2012-01-31T23:26:55Z")

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Thanks **septimus** , but that is a real pain in the fucking ass.

---

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**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\
**Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evenly-spaced-text-on-this-message-board-for-ascii-art/611348/14 "2012-01-31T23:46:44Z")

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By the way, you know that “collapsing” whitespace is a feature of HTML, right?

example:  
take this simple HTML document

```auto

<html>
<body>
<p>a b</p>
</body>
</html>

```

i.e. copy and paste the code above into a text document, save it as x.html, and open x.html in your browser. You will only see one space between the a and the b. The only way to get around that is to use non-breaking spaces, as septimus has said.

From HTML Documentation:  
[CSS white-space Property](http://www.w3schools.com/cssref/pr_text_white-space.asp)  
value: normal  
description: Sequences of whitespace will collapse into a single whitespace. Text will wrap when necessary. This is default

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\
**Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evenly-spaced-text-on-this-message-board-for-ascii-art/611348/15 "2012-01-31T23:48:34Z")

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One of the issues with the code box is that it has a maximum height, which makes it impractical for larger pictures. It’s only 31 lines on my screen, and it starts throwing in scrollbars after that. There may also be a maximum width, but I’m not sure about that.

```auto

 1
 2
 3
 4
 5
 6
 7
 8
 9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40

```

I could’ve sworn that there was some other tag that let you display preformatted text as-is, but I can’t remember the specifics.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\
**Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evenly-spaced-text-on-this-message-board-for-ascii-art/611348/16 "2012-01-31T23:56:44Z")

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> [@Arnold\_Winkelried](#):
>
> It’s not a bug, it’s to prevent people from typing in a long post and SHOUTING the whole time. IIRC.

At the risk of being tiresome, I’ll try to clarify again. I think it’s fine when a message like:

```auto

I'M SHOUTING HERE

```

gets converted to:

```auto

i'm shouting here

```

What is the problem is when the conversion applies to parts of the message that aren’t parts of the problem, e.g., when

```auto

[QU**OTE=Arnold Winkelried;14726699]... It's not a bug, ...
[/QUOTE]

IT'S A FEATURE

```

get’s converted to:

```auto

[qu**ote=arnold winkelried;14726699]... it's not a bug, ...
[/quote]

it's a feature

```

The “A” and “W” in the user name, and the “I” in “It’s not a bug” should not be converted to lower case.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\
**Post date:** [February 1, 2012, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evenly-spaced-text-on-this-message-board-for-ascii-art/611348/17 "2012-02-01T00:20:06Z")

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> [@giles](#):
>
> at the risk of being tiresome, i’ll try to clarify again. I think it’s fine when a message like:
> 
> ```auto
> 
> i'm shouting here
> 
> ```
> 
> gets converted to:
> 
> ```auto
> 
> i'm shouting here
> 
> ```
> 
> what is the problem is when the conversion applies to parts of the message that aren’t parts of the problem, e.g., when
> 
> ```auto
> 
> [noparse]
> 
> [quote="arnold winkelried, post:11, topic:611348"]
> 
> ... It's not a bug, ...
> [/quote]
> [/noparse]
> it's a feature
> 
> ```
> 
> get’s converted to:
> 
> ```auto
> 
> [noparse]
> 
> [quote="arnold winkelried, post:11, topic:611348"]
> 
> ... It's not a bug, ...
> [/quote]
> [/noparse]
> it's a feature
> 
> ```
> 
> the “a” and “w” in the user name, and the “i” in “it’s not a bug” should not be converted to lower case.

agreed! 🙂 (except for the extra apostrophe in “get’s”)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\
**Post date:** [February 1, 2012, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evenly-spaced-text-on-this-message-board-for-ascii-art/611348/18 "2012-02-01T00:25:10Z")

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Since this is a question about the Board, moved from GQ to ATMB.

**samclem** , moderator

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\
**Post date:** [February 1, 2012, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evenly-spaced-text-on-this-message-board-for-ascii-art/611348/19 "2012-02-01T00:34:14Z")

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> [@Arnold\_Winkelried](#):
>
> 🙂 (except for the extra apostrophe in “get’s”)

Man, I spend all that time getting the coding on that message right, and I manage to miss that extra apostrophe :smack: