Can Thunderbird display ANSI text within a message?

You know those fancy ANSI art back in the golden
days of B.B.S., widely used in login and menu
screens?

I designed those screens while being co-sysop
of the Concerto BBS Group back then. :)

ansi art - Google ??
<https://www.google.com/search?q=ansi+art>



--

@~@ Simplicity is Beauty! Remain silent! Drink, Blink, Stretch!
/ v \ May the Force and farces be with you! Live long and prosper!!
/( _ )\ https://sites.google.com/site/changmw/
^ ^ https://github.com/changmw/changmw
The game is afoot... Meow...


--- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

"Mr. Man-wai Chang" <toylet.toylet@gmail.com> writes:

Can Thunderbird display ANSI text within a message?

ÛÛßÛÜ ÜÛßÜÜ ßß ÜÛÛÜ ÜÛßÛÜ ÜÛßÛÜ ÛÛßÛÜ ÛÛßÛÜ ÜÛßÜÜ ÜÛÛÜ
ÛÛ ÛÛ ÛÛ ÛÛ ÛÜ ÛÛ ÛÛ ÜÜ ÛÛßÛÛ ÛÛ ÛÛ ÛÛ ÛÛ ÛÛ ÛÛ ÛÛ
ßß ßß ßßß ßß ßß ßßß ßß ßß ßß ßß ßß ßß ßßß ßß

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On 7/13/2026 11:43 PM, Schlomo Goldberg wrote:

"Mr. Man-wai Chang" <toylet.toylet@gmail.com> writes:

Can Thunderbird display ANSI text within a message?

ÛÛßÛÜ ÜÛßÜÜ ßß ÜÛÛÜ ÜÛßÛÜ ÜÛßÛÜ ÛÛßÛÜ ÛÛßÛÜ ÜÛßÜÜ ÜÛÛÜ
ÛÛ ÛÛ ÛÛ ÛÛ ÛÜ ÛÛ ÛÛ ÜÜ ÛÛßÛÛ ÛÛ ÛÛ ÛÛ ÛÛ ÛÛ ÛÛ ÛÛ
ßß ßß ßßß ßß ßß ßßß ßß ßß ßß ßß ßß ßß ßßß ßß

What happened to your colors? :)

--

@~@ Simplicity is Beauty! Remain silent! Drink, Blink, Stretch!
/ v \ May the Force and farces be with you! Live long and prosper!!
/( _ )\ https://sites.google.com/site/changmw/
^ ^ https://github.com/changmw/changmw
The game is afoot... Meow...

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

In news.software.readers,
Schlomo Goldberg <schlomo.goldberg@mailinator.com> wrote:

ÛÛßÛÜ ÜÛßÜÜ ßß ÜÛÛÜ ÜÛßÛÜ
ÜÛßÛÜ ÛÛßÛÜ ÛÛßÛÜ ÜÛßÜÜ ÜÛÛÜ
ÛÛ ÛÛ ÛÛ ÛÛ ÛÜ ÛÛ ÛÛ ÜÜ ÛÛßÛÛ ÛÛ
ÛÛ ÛÛ ÛÛ ÛÛ ÛÛ ÛÛ
ßß ßß ßßß ßß ßß ßßß ßß ßß ßß ßß
ßß ßß ßßß ßß

That's not looking good here:

https://qaz.wtf/tmp/screen-20260713-102045.png

What happened?

This, with escape sequences, doesn't display in my editor or newsreader,
I can see it with `cat` however.


²
²²ÜÜܲ²²²²²ÜÜÜÜ
Þ²²²Ü±±±±±±²²²²²²²²²ÜÜÜ ²²²²²²
²ÜÜ
Þ²²²Ý°°°°±±±±±²²²²²ßß ²²²²±±²²²²²
Ü
±²²²²Þ°°°°±±±±²²²²²²²±±±±±±±²²²²Ü
°±²²²²Ý°°ß ß±±±²²Ü²
²²²ßß±±±±±±±±±±
°±±Ý±²²Þ±±²ßÝ Ý ß
ß±±±±±±±±
°°±±±Þ±²²±ÝÜܲÝ
Þ°±±±±±±
°°°°°Ý ±²²Þ ÜÜÜܲ²²²²²°°
°°±±°Ý
ÜÜÜÜÜÜßß Þ²²ÝÞ ²²²²²²±±
°°°°±±°°
Üßßßß²²²²²²²²Ü²²²²Üܱ²
²²²²±±±ÜÜÜÜÜ°°°°±°°
ß °ÜÜÜÜßß²²²²²²²Ý°°°±±±±²²±
²±±°Ý°°°°°°°°°°°°°°Ý
ÜÜ°°°°°°°°°Ü ß²²²²±°°°°±±±²²
Þ±±±°°Ý°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°
ß ßßß°°°°°Ý ß²²²°°°°±±²²
²Þ°±°°°Ý°°ßßßßßßßÜ
ß°°ÝßßÜß ßß²Ý
°°°°°°°Ü úVS/ACiDú
°ß ßßßßßÜ
Þ ú P R O D U C T I O N S ú 1 9 9 4 ú


Out of band alternative (UTF-8):

https://qaz.wtf/tmp/acid0594.ans

Elijah
------
the link works with `curl` for me

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

Eli the Bearded <*@eli.users.panix.com> writes:

In news.software.readers,
Schlomo Goldberg <schlomo.goldberg@mailinator.com> wrote:

ÛÛßÛÜ ÜÛßÜÜ ßß ÜÛÛÜ ÜÛßÛÜ
ÜÛßÛÜ ÛÛßÛÜ ÛÛßÛÜ ÜÛßÜÜ ÜÛÛÜ
ÛÛ ÛÛ ÛÛ ÛÛ ÛÜ ÛÛ ÛÛ ÜÜ ÛÛßÛÛ ÛÛ
ÛÛ ÛÛ ÛÛ ÛÛ ÛÛ ÛÛ
ßß ßß ßßß ßß ßß ßßß ßß ßß ßß ßß
ßß ßß ßßß ßß

That's not looking good here:

Must be your newsreader. Try another one, like Thunderbird. I assume
most TUI ones, like slrn, will work too (as long as they support
Unicode).

This, with escape sequences, doesn't display in my editor or newsreader,
I can see it with `cat` however.

²
²²ÜÜܲ²²²²²ÜÜÜÜ
Þ²²²Ü±±±±±±²²²²²²²²²ÜÜÜ ²²²²²²
²ÜÜ
Þ²²²Ý°°°°±±±±±²²²²²ßß ²²²²±±²²²²²
Ü
±²²²²Þ°°°°±±±±²²²²²²²±±±±±±±²²²²Ü
°±²²²²Ý°°ß ß±±±²²Ü²
²²²ßß±±±±±±±±±±
°±±Ý±²²Þ±±²ßÝ Ý ß
ß±±±±±±±±
°°±±±Þ±²²±ÝÜܲÝ
Þ°±±±±±±
°°°°°Ý ±²²Þ ÜÜÜܲ²²²²²°°
°°±±°Ý
ÜÜÜÜÜÜßß Þ²²ÝÞ ²²²²²²±±
°°°°±±°°
Üßßßß²²²²²²²²Ü²²²²Üܱ²
²²²²±±±ÜÜÜÜÜ°°°°±°°
ß °ÜÜÜÜßß²²²²²²²Ý°°°±±±±²²±
²±±°Ý°°°°°°°°°°°°°°Ý
ÜÜ°°°°°°°°°Ü ß²²²²±°°°°±±±²²
Þ±±±°°Ý°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°
ß ßßß°°°°°Ý ß²²²°°°°±±²²
²Þ°±°°°Ý°°ßßßßßßßÜ
ß°°ÝßßÜß ßß²Ý
°°°°°°°Ü úVS/ACiDú
°ß ßßßßßÜ
Þ ú P R O D U C T I O N S ú 1 9 9 4 ú

Interestingly, I can see colors (blue for the picture, gray for
signature) but the picture itself is mangled. And it seems that for
picture both foreground and background set to blue. In any case, there
is no way to make something like that to work across the board,
especially in case of modern (GUI) newsreaders. None of them support
escape sequences, as far as I know.

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

Eli the Bearded wrote:

In news.software.readers,
Schlomo Goldberg <schlomo.goldberg@mailinator.com> wrote:

ÛÛßÛÜ ÜÛßÜÜ ßß ÜÛÛÜ ÜÛßÛÜ
ÜÛßÛÜ ÛÛßÛÜ ÛÛßÛÜ ÜÛßÜÜ ÜÛÛÜ
ÛÛ ÛÛ ÛÛ ÛÛ ÛÜ ÛÛ ÛÛ ÜÜ ÛÛßÛÛ ÛÛ
ÛÛ ÛÛ ÛÛ ÛÛ ÛÛ ÛÛ
ßß ßß ßßß ßß ßß ßßß ßß ßß ßß ßß
ßß ßß ßßß ßß

That's not looking good here:

https://qaz.wtf/tmp/screen-20260713-102045.png

What happened?

Use fixed width fonts.

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On 7/14/2026 3:55 AM, Frank Miller wrote:

Use fixed width fonts.

Not just that. You need a special
fixed-width fonts that also decodes
ANSI. Um.... maybe a custom font
like those smiling-face fonts. Oh,
it's called Emoji? :)

--

@~@ Simplicity is Beauty! Remain silent! Drink, Blink, Stretch!
/ v \ May the Force and farces be with you! Live long and prosper!!
/( _ )\ https://sites.google.com/site/changmw/
^ ^ https://github.com/changmw/changmw
The game is afoot... Meow...

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

Schlomo Goldberg wrote in alt.comp.software.thunderbird,alt.bbs.ads,alt.bbs.general,news.software.readers:

"Mr. Man-wai Chang" <toylet.toylet@gmail.com> writes:

Can Thunderbird display ANSI text within a message?

ÛÛßÛÜ ÜÛßÜÜ ßß ÜÛÛÜ ÜÛßÛÜ ÜÛßÛÜ ÛÛßÛÜ ÛÛßÛÜ ÜÛßÜÜ ÜÛÛÜ
ÛÛ ÛÛ ÛÛ ÛÛ ÛÜ ÛÛ ÛÛ ÜÜ ÛÛßÛÛ ÛÛ ÛÛ ÛÛ ÛÛ ÛÛ ÛÛ ÛÛ
ßß ßß ßßß ßß ßß ßßß ßß ßß ßß ßß ßß ßß ßßß ßß

flnews can, although the colors are imposed (black on white, here).

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)