This is my attempt at a minimal ASCII alphabet. The dimen-
sion limit is 3x3 characters. These are all capital letters.
Characters used: `_', `|', `-', `/', `\', `<', `>'
With certain letters I included several variants, further
limiting the necessity for more symbols, but as of now it
proved impossible for the letters `N' and `V'. `N' can be
rendered this way as a lowercase `n', but `V' just won't
work.
The first line is dedicated only to the character `_',
thus the letters may at a glance appear to be 3x2. Note
that 3x3 are the maximum dimensions, as some letters, such
as I, or E, take up 1x2 and 2x3 characters respectively.
Since line 1 is only used by the underscore (and the apo-
strophe), there is no need for a blank space between lines
of text.
Depending on one's preference, the letters can follow one
another without spacing or an empty 1x3 block for better
legibility. In the first case, individual words are divi-
ded by an empty 1x3 block, otherwise by 2x3.
The letters are intended to be monospaced, ie: each letter
printed within a 3x3 block, but while it might work well
with `I', surrounded by a blank space from each side, other
letters that take up 2x2 or 2x3 became offset, it's there-
fore suggested to always begin with letters of 2x2 or 2x3
on the first character. Note that in this variant, spaces
between words take up 3x3 empty blocks. See the ruler be-
neath the monospaced example for clarification.
Caveats:
In the case of punctuation, only `.' and `,' are used to
facilitate commas, periods and apostrophes. These can be
thought of as 1x3 blocks, or in the case of the monospaced
variant, 3x3 blocks, following the same rules of following
blank spaces as letters.
Examples:
Following letters without separation. Words separated by
a 1x3 empty block:
1 _ _ _ _
2 |_||_|| | | |_||_| | | |
3 | || ||_||_|, | ||_|_|_|_|
