What Is Big Ugly ASCII Font (BUAF)?

When you think of fonts, you probably imagine that the letters and characters have a certain style and that they're all different or at least have some variation in their look. Well, if you've ever heard of Big Ugly ASCII Fonts (BUAFs), then you know there's another way, and we're here to tell you how to do it. BUAFs are created using a set of symbols that essentially "draw" giant letters and characters on your screen. It's not quite as simple as it sounds, though you'll need to know a little about programming before making one yourself. The heyday of Big Ugly ASCII Font was in the 1990s when people were getting used to the World Wide Web. Local bulletin board systems were feeding into it, and people were learning how to use it. It was a time of discovery, exploration and experimentation and Big Ugly ASCII Font was a big part of that. All those ASCII art signatures you see today? Those are the descendants of old-school digital signatures – stock images that users would attach to posts or other messages. It's hard to believe now, but back then, there was no HTML or CSS and no way to insert photos or video clips into your posts without first converting them into code. So if you wanted to show off some artwork alongside your thoughts on an upcoming concert or talk about how much fun you had at an event last weekend, you'd have to use ASCII art! As Internet technology advanced and computer graphics became more sophisticated, Big Ugly ASCII Font and ASCII art became somewhat obsolete. It's not like we've forgotten about these things entirely. They're still online today, but they're not nearly as prevalent as they once were back in the day when there weren't any other options for making your message stand out above all others. Once you get started, it will be easy to create your BUAFs, and we even have some tips for making sure they look good!