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ascii-art

ASCII art is text rendered using only printable ASCII characters — large stylised banner letters made of slashes, pipes, and asterisks. It originated with figlet (1991) for adorning email signatures, terminal banners, README headers, MOTD greetings, and source-code comments. The ZTools ASCII Art Generator implements the figlet font format directly in JavaScript with 50+ classic fonts (Standard, Slant, Big, Block, Banner, Doom, Shadow, Small) and copies output to clipboard with one click. Output is plain text — paste into any terminal, code editor, or chat that uses a monospace font.

Use cases​

README headers​

Open-source repos commonly start with an ASCII-art banner of the project name. Sets a tone, makes the README memorable in a sea of GitHub repos.

Terminal MOTD / login banners​

Servers display ASCII-art on SSH login. Useful for distinguishing prod-vs-staging at a glance, or just for fun.

CLI tool branding​

When your CLI tool starts up, a one-line ASCII banner immediately communicates which tool the user is in. Common in dev tools (vite, npm, docker compose).

Plain-text documents​

Section dividers in plain-text README, NOTES, or CHANGELOG files where Markdown headings don't render.

How it works​

  1. Type text — Single line typically; multi-line works but each line renders separately.
  2. Pick a font — Standard (default), Slant, Big, Banner3, Doom, Shadow, Small, Block, Bubble, Digital — 50+ available.
  3. Preview — Renders instantly in monospace; horizontal scroll for wide outputs.
  4. Copy or download — One-click copy to clipboard (raw text), or download .txt file.

Examples​

Input: "HELLO" font: Standard

Output: Classic 6-row block letters with pipes and underscores — familiar terminal banner look.

Input: "v2.0" font: Slant

Output: Italicised banner — common for version banners in CLI startup output.

Input: "WARN" font: Doom

Output: Heavy/dramatic 6-row letters; good for danger/warning messages in scripts.

Frequently asked questions​

What is figlet?

A 1991 Unix tool that renders text as ASCII-art banners using "FIGcharacter" font files. ZTools is a JavaScript reimplementation of the same algorithm with the same font format.

Will the art render correctly in my README?

Yes if you wrap it in a Markdown code block (triple backticks). Outside a code block, GitHub collapses whitespace and breaks the alignment.

Why does it look broken in chat apps?

ASCII art needs a monospace font and preserved whitespace. Slack/Discord render in monospace inside code blocks (single backticks for inline, triple backticks for fenced) — outside those, the proportional font breaks alignment.

Can I add color?

ASCII art is plain text, but you can wrap it in ANSI color escape sequences for terminal color (e.g. \x1b[31m for red). Some figlet fonts also support TOIlet-style RGB output.

How do I make it smaller?

Use the "Small" or "Mini" fonts (3–4 rows tall) for compact banners. Standard is 6 rows; Big is 8.

Why is the output truncated?

Wide screens are typically 80–120 columns; "HELLO WORLD" in Big font may exceed that. Switch to a smaller font or break the text across lines.

Tips​

  • Stick to single-line inputs for clean banners; multi-line works but visual cohesion suffers.
  • For READMEs, wrap in ``` fenced code blocks so GitHub preserves whitespace.
  • Pick a font ≤ 80 chars wide for terminal compatibility; use the preview to check column count.
  • Combine with a tagline below the banner for a polished look (banner + one-line description).
  • In source-code comments, use small fonts (3–4 rows) so the banner doesn't dominate the file.

Try it now​

The full ascii-art runs in your browser at https://ztools.zaions.com/ascii-art — no signup, no upload, no data leaves your device.

Open the tool ↗

Last updated: 2026-05-06 · Author: Ahsan Mahmood · Edit this page on GitHub