[PIC] How to improve an ascii diagram.

Message has been deleted

dsa...@zurich.csail.mit.edu

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Jun 22, 2005, 4:33:49 AM6/22/05

to

a. How could this ascii diagram be improved?...

b. How can this ascii diagram be sorted out better?...

It's from the pdf at http://cambridgema.gov/cpl/hours/newlibmap.pdf
Here's an online viewer for the pdf http://view.samurajdata.se/

For example, how do you reduce the diagram to a more narrow width?...
it has long lines very wide at about 220 columns currently.

| | |
|
|

| Library Catalogs
|
|

| | |
|
|

| | |
|
|_________________________| | |__________________|
|_|________________________|____________________________________________________________________|_______________________|____________|__________________
|
| |

| | |
|
| |

| room | |
|
|_________________________| |_____________________|
|_|________________________|____________________________________________________________________|_______________
_______|____________|__________________ |
|

| | | Paperbacks
|
| 899 <--------------------------------------- 360

| | |
|
|

| | |
|
|

| | |
|
|_______________________________________________________

| | |
|

Front door
4th room on right
Library catalogs
Audio books

Cambridge Public Library
Audio visual collection

359 Broadway
Careers, resumes, job search

Cambridge Massachusetts 02139
Language collection 400s
Large print books
Spanish, French books
Test books

2nd room on right
New fiction books,
New nonfiction books
Graphic novels
Paperbacks
Travel guides

1st room on left
Young adults
Childrens department
Children's programs

1st room on right
Circulation
DVDs
Express circulation desk
Registration
Reserved books
Return library materials

6th room on right
Database research
Reference assistance
Reference collection
Reference desk
Current magazines
Newspapers

5th room on right
Internet computers

2nd room on left
Lavatory women

5th room on left
Lavatory men

Library catalogs
Nonfiction 000-299
Nonfiction 300-359
360-899 stacks
900s stacks
Biography
Fiction
Mysteries
Science fiction

360-899 stacks
900s stacks
Audio books
Audio visual collection
Biography
Careers, resumes, job search
Children's programs
Childrens department
Circulation
Current magazines
DVDs
Database research
Express circulation desk
Fiction
Graphic novels
Internet computers
Language collection 400s
Large print books
Lavatory men
Lavatory women
Library catalogs

Mysteries
New fiction books,
New nonfiction books
Newspapers
Nonfiction 000-299
Nonfiction 300-359
Paperbacks
Reference assistance
Reference collection
Reference desk
Registration
Reserved books
Return library materials
Science fiction
Spanish, French books
Test books
Travel guides
Young adults

Faux_Pseudo

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Jun 22, 2005, 11:28:02 AM6/22/05

to

_.-In alt.ascii-art, dsa...@zurich.csail.mit.edu wrote the following -._

> a. How could this ascii diagram be improved?...

By making sure that you are using spaces and not tabs and makking it
clear where the beginging/end of lines are. You have a very bad case
of line rapping and your news poster is probibly to blame but not
using shorter lines is at fault too.

Letting us know if this is for the same use as the PDF would be nice
too. It says "You are here" but if they are going to be moving around
with this on a slip of paper then that is a bad idea.

> b. How can this ascii diagram be sorted out better?...

Instead of doing this as a copy of the pdf I would redo it from
scratch and make it smaller, not to scale, and with a legend instead
of trying to fit each name in each room.

.-----------------------------------------------------------------------.
| _______________________ |
| | A B C | | D E F | +) Catalog |
| |_ |_ |___|__|_ |_ |__ _| &) Red Door |
| |___ _ _ ___ + _| @) Express Circulation Desk |
| | | | H|I | |J K| |N | A) Reference Collection |
| |__| |_ | | | | | __| B) Reference Room. Reference |
| |+ G |----------| |O | Assistance, Database Research |
| |a | |L | __| C) News papers, Current Magazines. |
| |b | | & PQ| D) Internet Computers |
| |c | | _| @|R | E) Audio Visual Collection, Large |
| `------' | M| S | Print Books |
| `--- ----' F) Audio Books, Language |
| __ Coll. 400s, Test Books, Careers, |
| /\ |==|/\ /\ Resumes, Job Search Books in |
| __ || |=_||| _____ __||__ __ Spanish, French. |
| / \||---/^^||/\____\/^^||^^\/ \ G) Stacks |
| | |||OOO|UU||()| | || | | a) 360-899 |
| b) 900-Misteries |
| Camberidge Public Library c) Bio, Sci-Fi, Fiction |
| 359 Broadway H) Mens Room |
| Camberidge Massachusetts I) Non-Fiction 300-359 |
| __ __ J) Non-Fiction 000-299 |
| / _\---/ \ K) Ladies' Room |
| |/ _ _\_| L) Children's Room |
| | / ) ( \ | M) YA Room |
| | \/ o \// N) Children's Program Room |
| _\ `-Y-'/_ O) New Books, Graphic Novels, |
| / `{><} \ Travel Guides, Paperbacks |
| / ) (/'\ P) Circulation Registration |
| (__/ CPL \__) Q) Reserved Books |
| / \`\_____.-'\-' R) DVD's |
| ( || ) ) ( / ) S) Return Library Books Here |
| \___// `-'\ // Art is (c) Faux_Pseudo :F_P: |
| `--' For use by Camberidge Public Library |
| |
`-----------------------------------------------------------------------'

:F_P:#################################Wed Jun 22 2005#################

I appologize to any nethack players. The & was tastless.

--
.-')) fauxascii.com ('-. | It's a damn poor mind that
' ..- .:" ) ( ":. -.. ' | can only think of one way to
((,,_;'.;' UIN=66618055 ';. ';_,,)) | spell a word.
((_.YIM=Faux_Pseudo :._)) | - Andrew Jackson

Don Saklad

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Jun 22, 2005, 3:20:22 PM6/22/05

to

Thank you!... that's nifty!

I used only spaces.

The you are here will be deleted. It's intended for people not in
the building. An additional diagram in ascii would help people
get a more clear idea of the organization of our library.
There are circumstances where ascii is preferred.

A smaller diagram with legend is a good thing along with the
labelled diagram. Both can be made available.

The pdf is at http://cambridgema.gov/cpl/hours/newlibmap.pdf

Here's an online viewer for the pdf http://view.samurajdata.se/

Please send along more critique! Here's another draft of the
labelled one...

| | | | | | | Books in Spanish, French |
|_________________________| |_|___________________| |_|____________________|______________|___________________________|_________________| |__|_________________________________________|
| |

| Library catalogs |
| |
| |
|_________________________ ___________________________ _______________________________________ __________________ __________________ ____________________________|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | Lavatory | Nonfiction Nonfiction | Lavatory | | |
| | men | 300-359 000-299 | women | | Children's |
| | | | | | programs |
| | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
|__________________________ |______________|_____________________________________|________________________________|_____________________________| |____________________________|
| | | | Children's | | |
| Library catalogs | | department | |_ New books |
| | | | _ Graphic novels |
| | | _| | Travel guides |
| Stacks | | _ | Paperbacks |
| 899 <---------------------------- 360 | | | |____________________________|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Circulation |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |_ Registration |
| | | | _ |

|______________________________________________| |_______________________| | |
| |
| |
|____________________________|
Front door
Cambridge Public Library
359 Broadway
Cambridge Massachusetts 02139

1st room on right
Circulation
DVDs
Express circulation desk
Registration
Reserved books
Return library materials

1st room on left
Young adults
Childrens department
Children's programs

2nd room on right

New fiction books,
New nonfiction books
Graphic novels
Paperbacks
Travel guides

2nd room on left
Lavatory women

4th room on right
Library catalogs
Audio books
Audio visual collection
Careers, resumes, job search

Language collection 400s
Large print books
Spanish, French books
Test books

5th room on right
Internet computers

5th room on left
Lavatory men

6th room on right

Database research
Reference assistance
Reference collection
Reference desk
Current magazines
Newspapers

Library catalogs

Nonfiction 000-299
Nonfiction 300-359
360-899 stacks
900s stacks
Biography
Fiction
Mysteries
Science fiction

360-899 stacks
900s stacks
Audio books
Audio visual collection
Biography
Careers, resumes, job search
Children's programs

Children's department

Faux_Pseudo

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Jun 22, 2005, 9:25:27 PM6/22/05

to

_.-In alt.ascii-art, Don Saklad wrote the following -._

> Thank you!... that's nifty!

No problem.

> I used only spaces.

Well it came through very messed up. This one came by much better.

> Please send along more critique! Here's another draft of the
> labelled one...

This one works. But it seems like it has too much empty space.
And it doesn't have the panda. :(

OA: more ascii art banner work. This one not edited for short lines.
_________________________________________________________________________________
| |
! This 3d banner This 3d banner |
| brought to you brought to you |
| by fauxascii.com by fauxascii.com |
| :F_P: :F_P: |
`-._____________________________________________________________________________.-'

skyph...@yahoo.com

unread,

Jun 25, 2005, 2:01:13 PM6/25/05

to

Don Saklad wrote:
<snip>

> A smaller diagram with legend is a good thing along with the
> labelled diagram. Both can be made available.

<snip>

> Please send along more critique! Here's another draft of the
> labelled one...

<snip>

I agree with FP about the need for a legend (or at least
abbreviations). I don't see how you can get the image any smaller
without them. Below are some 70-column renditions of your map (using
Jave). I used abbreviations, but you could easily use numbers/letters
in parentheses/brackets.

Labeled:
_____________________________________________________________________
| _ _ | | _ _ Audio |
| | Ref/ | News | | Net | A/V | Language |
| Ref | DB Rsch | Mags | | Comp | Lg Prt | Test Bks |
| | | | | | | |
|-------- '------- '---------'-------'------ '------- '--- ------|
| [Cat] |
| |
|---------------. . --. -------. .--- ----. -------. . -----|
| | |Men |Non-Fict | |Non-Fict | Women | | |
| | | | 300-359 | | 000-299 | | | Kids |
|---------------' '-.--'---------'--'---------'--.------| | Prog. |
|[Cat] | | | |
| | | Kids | |-------|
| 899 | | | | 960 | | Room | | New |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | GrNvl |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | Trvl |
| | / PB |
| 900's | | Myst | CAMBRIDGE : | |-------|
| | | | | | | | | | : | | Circ. |
| | | | | | | | | | PUBLIC \ | |
| | | | | Rsvd. |
| Bio Sci-Fi Fict | LIBRARY | | DVD |
| | | | | | | | | | | |----| | |
| | | | | | | | | | | YA | | |
|____________________| | Room | [X]| |
'------| |
| |Return |
| |-------'

Unlabeled (door style 1):

_____________________________________________________________________
| _ _ | | _ _ |
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
|-------- '------- '---------'-------'------ '------- '--- ------|
| |
| |
|---------------. . --. -------. .--- ----. -------. . -----|
| | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | |
|---------------' '-.--'---------'--'---------'--.------| | |
| | | | |
| | | | |-------|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | / |
| | | | | | | | | | CAMBRIDGE : | |-------|
| | | | | | | | | | : | | |
| | | | | | | | | | PUBLIC \ | |
| | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | LIBRARY | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | |----| | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|____________________| | | | |
'------| |
| | |
| |-------'

Unlabeled (door style 2):

_____________________________________________________________________
| _ _ | | _ _ |
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
|-------| |'------| |'---------'-------'-----| |'------| |'--| |------|
| |
| |
|---------------. . |--.| |------. .--| |----.| |------. | |-----|
| | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | |
|---------------' '-.--'---------'--'---------'--.------| |_ |
| | | | _ |
| | | | |-------|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | _| |_ |
| | / _ _ |
| | | | | | | | | | CAMBRIDGE : | |-------|
| | | | | | | | | | : | |_ |
| | | | | | | | | | PUBLIC \ | _ |
| | | | |_ |
| | | | | | | | | | LIBRARY | | _ |
| | | | | | | | | | | |----| | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|____________________| | | |_ |
'------| _ |
| | |
'| |'-------'

--
dew