# Test, Chess board **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [December 27, 2014, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-chess-board/708269 "2014-12-27T05:42:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2014, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-chess-board/708269/21 "2014-12-28T12:01:43Z")
> [@Tabby\_Cat](#): > > Looks pretty bad to me. > > [Imgur: The magic of the Internet](http://imgur.com/gYSdzxt) Well, I forgot to declare a starting font. I’ll specify the ones used from before. 8 ║♜ ♞ ♝ ♛ ♚ ♝ ♞ ♜ 7 ║:chess\_pawn: ♟ ♟ ♟ ♟ ♟ ♟ ♟ 6 ║:diamonds: ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ 5 ║:diamonds: ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ 4 ║:diamonds: ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ 3 ║:diamonds: ♦ ♘ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ 2 ║♙ ♙ ♙ ♙ ♙ ♙ ♙ ♙ 1 ║♖ ♦ ♗ ♕ ♔ ♗ ♘ ♖ 8 ║♜ ♞ ♝ ♛ ♚ ♝ ♞ ♜ 7 ║:chess\_pawn: ♟ ♟ ♟ ♟ ♟ ♟ ♟ 6 ║♢ ♢ ♢ ♢ ♢ ♢ ♢ ♢ 5 ║♢ ♢ ♢ ♢ ♢ ♢ ♢ ♢ 4 ║♢ ♢ ♢ ♢ ♢ ♢ ♢ ♢ 3 ║♢ ♢ ♘ ♢ ♢ ♢ ♢ ♢ 2 ║♙ ♙ ♙ ♙ ♙ ♙ ♙ ♙ 1 ║♖ ♢ ♗ ♕ ♔ ♗ ♘ ♖ If they’re still out of alignment, I’m going to guess this just isn’t possible to get exactly right. We don’t have the choice of a monospaced font that also has all those symbols. ---
**Author:** ![Tabby\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tabby\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tabby_Cat)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2014, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-chess-board/708269/22 "2014-12-28T13:56:38Z")
Yep, still bad. [http://imgur.com/ZHMEdF3](http://imgur.com/ZHMEdF3) I was thinking, how about using the chess pieces, but just have them the same color as the background? ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2014, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-chess-board/708269/23 "2014-12-28T15:33:14Z")
Win 8.1, IE 11, and using 200% zoom on my tablet … Everyone’s attempts all look pretty much the same. The chess pieces are fine and the empty space markers are too narrow, occupying roughly the 5 leftmost columns of pieces. Likewise any piece placed in the board is offset to the left proportionally. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2014, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-chess-board/708269/24 "2014-12-28T17:05:14Z")
**BigT** ’s 2nd layout in post [19](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=18007638&postcount=19) is the best I’ve seen so far, but the letters aren’t included. Really nice size for the symbols. As to **Quartz** ’s in post [12](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=18007638&postcount=12), for me the dots are shifted to the left and the letters are off to the right. I think “less is more” for the empty space. Diamonds are too distracting. Even ellipsis is a bit much. Maybe a small underscore, if that? (Still Opera desktop.) ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2014, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-chess-board/708269/25 "2014-12-28T21:47:46Z")
See **Tabby Cat** ’s image. **Quartz** ’s post looks like that as well, except the placeholders are black rectangles. Still aren’t aligned properly. ---
**Author:** ![Tabby\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tabby\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tabby_Cat)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2014, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-chess-board/708269/26 "2014-12-29T02:04:41Z")
8 ║♜♞♝♛♚♝♞♜ 7 ║:chess\_pawn:♟♟♟♟♟♟♟ 6 ║:chess\_pawn:♟♟♟♟♟♟♟ 5 ║:chess\_pawn:♟♟♟♟♟♟♟ 4 ║:chess\_pawn:♟♟♟♟♟♟♟ 3 ║:chess\_pawn:♟[COLOR=“Black”]♘:chess\_pawn:♟♟♟♟[/COLOR] 2 ║♙♙♙♙♙♙♙♙ 1 ║♖♟♗♕♔♗♘♖ How’s this then? Pretty hard to visualize rows and columns though. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2014, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-chess-board/708269/27 "2014-12-29T15:15:11Z")
You’re right. Something is definitely needed in the empty squares. ---
**Author:** ![Mtgman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5a626/32.png) [@Mtgman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mtgman)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2014, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-chess-board/708269/28 "2014-12-29T17:05:41Z")
> [@Tabby\_Cat](#): > > How’s this then? Depends, are the invisible pawns on the white side or the black side? Do they get promoted to invisible queens? If so, my money is on the invisible side, and black and white are screwed. Overall this is the solution that has worked the best on my browser(Firefox 26 on Windows 7 64-bit). All of the others had the blank spaces between the two sides misaligned. Enjoy, Steven ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2014, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-chess-board/708269/29 "2014-12-29T17:22:13Z")
> [@Tabby\_Cat](#): > > 8 ║♜♞♝♛♚♝♞♜ > 7 ║:chess\_pawn:♟♟♟♟♟♟♟ > 6 ║:chess\_pawn:♟♟♟♟♟♟♟ > 5 ║:chess\_pawn:♟♟♟♟♟♟♟ > 4 ║:chess\_pawn:♟♟♟♟♟♟♟ > 3 ║:chess\_pawn:♟[COLOR=“Black”]♘:chess\_pawn:♟♟♟♟[/COLOR] > 2 ║♙♙♙♙♙♙♙♙ > 1 ║♖♟♗♕♔♗♘♖ > > How’s this then? Pretty hard to visualize rows and columns though. Let’s try this for a sample board in play: 8 ║♜♞♝♛♚♟♞ 7 ║:chess\_pawn:♟♟♟♟♟♟♟ 6 ║:chess\_pawn:♟♟♝:chess\_pawn:♟♟♜ 5 ║:chess\_pawn:♟♟♟♟♟♟♟ 4 ║:chess\_pawn:♟♟♟♟♟♟♟ 3 ║:chess\_pawn:♟[COLOR=“Black”]♘:chess\_pawn:♟♟♟♟[/COLOR] 2 ║♙♙♙♙♙♙♙♙ 1 ║♖♟♗♕♔♗♘♖ I know I haven’t done any white plays, just showing the effort to make that simple amount of moves. Here’s the code: [noparse] 8 ║♜♞♝♛♚♟♞ 7 ║:chess\_pawn:♟♟♟♟♟♟♟ 6 ║:chess\_pawn:♟♟♝:chess\_pawn:♟♟♜ 5 ║:chess\_pawn:♟♟♟♟♟♟♟ 4 ║:chess\_pawn:♟♟♟♟♟♟♟ 3 ║:chess\_pawn:♟[COLOR=“Black”]♘:chess\_pawn:♟♟♟♟[/COLOR] 2 ║♙♙♙♙♙♙♙♙ 1 ║♖♟♗♕♔♗♘♖ [/noparse] Now tell me how practical that is. Answer: using any symbol with color coded out to make it an “invisible” placeholder is too cumbersome. The beauty of **GIGObuster** ’s original concept is the placeholders are single characters that, if not typed, can easily be cut/pasted and not throw off the table alignment while trying to construct the playing field. Because it’s not just the result that needs to be clear, but it needs to be easy enough to see alignment while making the moves to keep them in the right places. (And I forgot a pawn. Caught on Preview, left in to demonstrate what is likely to happen.) ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2014, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-chess-board/708269/30 "2014-12-29T17:33:36Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > Now tell me how practical that is. > > Answer: using any symbol with color coded out to make it an “invisible” placeholder is too cumbersome. The beauty of **GIGObuster** ’s original concept is the placeholders are single characters that, if not typed, can easily be cut/pasted and not throw off the table alignment while trying to construct the playing field. Because it’s not just the result that needs to be clear, but it needs to be easy enough to see alignment while making the moves to keep them in the right places. > > (And I forgot a pawn. Caught on Preview, left in to demonstrate what is likely to happen.) Yep, you got it. This needs to be simple to edit and it does not need to be 100% accurate to show a position, with the idea from **Quartz** I think that will be good enough for a message board, if there is a need for more precision or an actual game then one can link to outside sites. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2014, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-chess-board/708269/31 "2014-12-29T17:42:14Z")
Of course, that does not mean that there are no more improvements possible, I’m still looking for almost empty or neutral characters that are the same size as the chess pieces. So far, with the ideas posted, it is good enough for [del]High school work[/del] a message board. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2014, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-chess-board/708269/32 "2014-12-29T18:26:31Z")
One more test: 8 ║♜♞♝♛♚♝♞♜ 7 ║:chess\_pawn:♟♟♟♟♟♟♟ 6 ║☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐ 5 ║☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐ 4 ║☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐ 3 ║☐☐♘☐☐☐☐☐ 2 ║♙♙♙♙♙♙♙♙ 1 ║♖☐♗♕♔♗♘♖ …╚═══════════════ …a.b.c.d. e. f.g. h ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2014, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-chess-board/708269/33 "2014-12-29T19:23:05Z")
Posts 12, 19, and 21 are all mis-aligned for me. 26 and 29 work, but it’s hard to see where the pieces are relative to each other without a visible board. 32 works for the board, but the column letters aren’t aligned with the columns. Is there anyone for whom the code tag version didn’t work? I think that any solution that involves “tweaking” (picking characters of just the right size, changing font size for some characters but not others, etc.) is doomed to failure, because those details will all vary from platform to platform. I think that the only real solution will be forcing the characters to all render at the same spacing. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2014, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-chess-board/708269/34 "2014-12-30T00:12:14Z")
how does this look to people? # 8 ║♜|♞|♝|♛|♚|♝|♞|♜| 7 ║♟|♟|♟|♟|♟|♟|♟|♟| 6 ║ \_ | \_ | \_ | \_ | \_ | \_ | \_ | \_ | 5 ║ \_ | \_ | \_ | \_ | \_ | \_ | \_ | \_ | 4 ║ \_ | \_ | \_ | \_ | \_ | \_ | \_ | \_ | 3 ║ \_ | \_ |♘| \_ | \_ | \_ | \_ | \_ | 2 ║♙|♙|♙|♙|♙|♙|♙|♙| 1 ║♖| \_ |♗|♕|♔|♗|♘|♖| 0 ║A | B | C| D| E| F | G | H| ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2014, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-chess-board/708269/35 "2014-12-30T00:43:46Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > how does this look to people? > > # 8 ║♜|♞|♝|♛|♚|♝|♞|♜| 7 ║♟|♟|♟|♟|♟|♟|♟|♟| 6 ║ \_ | \_ | \_ | \_ | \_ | \_ | \_ | \_ | 5 ║ \_ | \_ | \_ | \_ | \_ | \_ | \_ | \_ | 4 ║ \_ | \_ | \_ | \_ | \_ | \_ | \_ | \_ | 3 ║ \_ | \_ |♘| \_ | \_ | \_ | \_ | \_ | 2 ║♙|♙|♙|♙|♙|♙|♙|♙| 1 ║♖| \_ |♗|♕|♔|♗|♘|♖| > > 0 ║A | B | C| D| E| F | G | H| The unoccupied spaces are much wider than the pieces. On quoting, it looks like this is because the unoccupied spaces are flanked by space characters, while the pieces aren’t. Attempting to fix that: # 8 ║ ♜ | ♞ | ♝ | ♛ | ♚ | ♝ | ♞ | ♜ | 7 ║ ♟ | ♟ | ♟ | ♟ | ♟ | ♟ | ♟ | ♟ | 6 ║ \_ | \_ | \_ | \_ | \_ | \_ | \_ | \_ | 5 ║ \_ | \_ | \_ | \_ | \_ | \_ | \_ | \_ | 4 ║ \_ | \_ | \_ | \_ | \_ | \_ | \_ | \_ | 3 ║ \_ | \_ | ♘ | \_ | \_ | \_ | \_ | \_ | 2 ║ ♙ | ♙ | ♙ | ♙ | ♙ | ♙ | ♙ | ♙ | 1 ║ ♖ | \_ | ♗ | ♕ | ♔ | ♗ | ♘ | ♖ | 0 ║ A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | EDIT: OK, that’s a little closer, but still not right. Is Garamonde a fixed-width font? I don’t think it’s even worth bothering to try without a fixed-width font. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2014, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-chess-board/708269/36 "2014-12-30T02:38:10Z")
I have the opposite experience to **Chronos**. **Peter Morris** ’s work looks perfect. **Chronos** ’s attempted improvements once again make the empty spaces about 40% too narrow. Win 8.1, IE 11. The \*empty spaces are too narrow \*effect is invariant regardless of text zoom setting. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2014, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-chess-board/708269/37 "2014-12-30T04:00:52Z")
I agree with **LSLGuy**. XP, current Firefox. ---
**Author:** ![Tabby\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tabby\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tabby_Cat)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2014, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-chess-board/708269/38 "2014-12-30T06:26:40Z")
It’s probably more to do with the browser than anything. I think we’re pretty much stuck though. Anything that has spaces will probably not work since spaces seem to render at different widths for different browsers, so unless there are an equal number of spaces per row, the spaces will mess things up. The most likely thing that can be done is to find a character that has the same width as the chess pieces (and that isn’t a chess piece itself), and use that. I’ve been trying to find a character map that will do that, but to no avail. Ah well. ---
**Author:** ![Tabby\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tabby\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tabby_Cat)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2014, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-chess-board/708269/39 "2014-12-30T06:37:03Z")
I may have cracked it! 8 ║♜♞♝♛♚♝♞♜ 7 ║☖☖☖☖☖☖☖☖ 6 ║☖☖☖☖☖☖☖☖ 5 ║☖☖☖☖☖☖☖☖ 4 ║☖☖☖☖☖☖☖☖ 3 ║☖☖♘☖☖☖☖☖ 2 ║♙♙♙♙♙♙♙♙ 1 ║♖☖♗♕♔♗♘♖ Some cross polination was needed. Basically, use Shogi pieces. Seems like they’re the same width as Chess pieces. EDIT: and I discover that iPhone doesn’t render the shogi pieces. Drat. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2014, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-chess-board/708269/40 "2014-12-30T14:05:46Z")
FWIW - This looks great in Win 8.1 IE11. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-chess-board/708269.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-chess-board/708269.md?page=3)