April 24, 2026
ASCII me anything
"Plain text has been around for decades and it's here to stay." – Unsung
Text art is back: fans cheer, purists nitpick, and everyone’s drawing boxes
TLDR: Two lightweight tools revive text-based diagramming, and the crowd splits between “plain text forever” and “there’s no such thing as plain text,” sparking ASCII vs. Unicode nitpicks and new tool links. This matters because simple, portable visuals fit code and can even help structure AI prompts.
Old-school text art just staged a comeback, and the comments are a glorious tug-of-war. The article spotlights simple web tools like Mockdown and Wiretext that let you sketch diagrams using letters and symbols—like retro computer art—while praising the power of constraints and the familiarity of typing. Fans piled in: OuterVale called the blog “one of the best,” and people nodded along at the idea that self-imposed limits help you think, even in the age of AI. Then came the plot twist: ssivark dropped a reality check with the talk title “There’s no such thing as plain text,” reminding everyone that text encoding is messy and “plain” isn’t so plain. Cue the nitpickers: dlcarrier was stunned by all the “extended ASCII,” while others leaned into Unicode (the big symbol set) love—nullhole confessed it’s “hard not to love the box‑drawing” characters. Meanwhile, tool collectors like suprjami turned the thread into a mini‑directory, adding asciiflow and asciidraw. The vibe? Half nostalgia, half standards debate, with a sprinkle of joy over Mockdown’s “ASCII spray,” described like confetti for nerds. Verdict: plain text as vibe is thriving—even if no one agrees what “plain” actually means.
Key Points
- •The article profiles plain-text/“ASCII” diagramming and UI tools, highlighting Mockdown and Wiretext.
- •Mockdown runs on the web including mobile; Wiretext runs on the web but is desktop-only.
- •These tools are used by people who prefer constrained visual choices, for diagrams in source code, and as an entry point to generative AI.
- •The piece situates modern tools within the 1970s–1980s TUI lineage, referencing Turbo Vision and noting modern performance and web/mouse support.
- •It emphasizes the value of constraint and the enduring portability and familiarity of monospace plain text, while noting “ASCII” is used colloquially.