Text

File:Txt.png Text is a visual representation of language comprised of symbols (i.e. letters of an alphabet of many Western languages, or complex characters as in Eastern languages). Through the use of typography, text can be enhanced to take on various shapes, forms, sizes, colors, boldness and other associated styling.

On the web, the appearance of text can be controlled through the use of CSS.

Since SMS

Recently though, the term text has taken on a whole new meaning around the concept of SMS and writing a textual short message, giving text the role of an action verb (i.e. "to text" or "texting").

Escaping

Raw ASCII escape codes

\/ ==> /
\u002D ==> -
\x26 ==> & 

HTML escaping

  ==>  
& ==> &
< ==> <
> ==> >

URL encoding

  ==> %20
" ==> %22
+ ==> %2B
, ==> %2C
- ==> %2D
/ ==> %2F
? ==> %3F
& ==> %26
= ==> %23

Tools

• List of Handy Online Tools/Utilities: http://www.mefancy.com/
• Text utilities: https://rawgit.com/instanceofme/text-utilities/master/index.html
• Sort Text (lines): http://textmechanic.com/text-tools/basic-text-tools/sort-text-lines/
• Duplicate Line Removal Tool: http://www.textfixer.com/tools/remove-duplicate-lines.php
• Various Calculators & Converters: http://www.thinkcalculator.com/
• Line Break Removal Tool: http://www.textfixer.com/tools/remove-line-breaks.php
• Uppercase or Lowercase -- Text Conversion Tool: http://www.textfixer.com/tools/uppercase-lowercase-text.php
• Convert Text to Binary: http://www.unit-conversion.info/texttools/convert-text-to-binary/
• Binary to Text (ASCII) Conversion: http://www.roubaixinteractive.com/PlayGround/Binary_Conversion/Binary_To_Text.asp
• URL Decoder/Encoder: http://meyerweb.com/eric/tools/dencoder/
• The URLEncode and URLDecode Page: http://www.albionresearch.com/misc/urlencode.php
• HTML Escape tool: http://www.htmlescape.net/htmlescape_tool.html
• HTML Unescape tool: http://www.htmlescape.net/htmlunescape_tool.html
• PasteBin: http://www.pastebin.com/ (copy/paste tool to paste between devices, or just save something for later)
• Text-based DIFF Tool: http://www.difftool.net/
• Typing Speed Test: https://www.livechatinc.com/typing-speed-test/#/

Text Editor

• Notepad++: http://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net/uk/site.htm | PLUGINS | PLUGIN MANAGER (no longer pre-installed, PM now requires separate download/install use settings > import > import plugin(s))
• Sublime Text - a sophisticated yet simple Text Editor for coding/markup: http://www.sublimetext.com/
• HxD - Freeware Hex Editor and Disk Editor: http://mh-nexus.de/en/hxd/
• Hey! Paste It: http://www.heypasteit.com/ (Copy-Paste anything you want, then get it from anywhere online)

DIFF tool

• WinMerge: http://winmerge.org/ | DOWNLOAD | DOCS
• Linux diff: http://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man1/diff.1.html | EXAMPLES

Resources

• ASCII symbols -- HTML Escape Codes table listing: http://www.ascii.cl/htmlcodes.htm
• Unicode table: https://unicode-table.com/en/
• UNICODE symbols -- C0 Controls and Basic Latin: http://unicode.org/charts/PDF/U0000.pdf
• UNICODE symbols -- C1 Controls and Latin-1 Supplement: http://unicode.org/charts/PDF/U0080.pdf
• UNICODE symbols -- Latin Extended-A: http://unicode.org/charts/PDF/U0100.pdf
• Hallo — distraction-free writing for the web: http://http://hallojs.org/ (simple WYSIWYG editor library in JS)
• CreateJS: http://createjs.org/
• Concrete5: http://www.concrete5.org
• Wingdings 2 character set and equivalent Unicode characters: http://www.alanwood.net/demos/wingdings-2.html
• Bureau of Communication: http://www.bureauofcommunication.com/ | EXAMPLE - Formal Apology (tool for mastering common text-based communications)

Clipboard

Copy/Paste text from the browser to your system's clipboard for later use.

• clipboard.js: https://clipboardjs.com
• ZeroClipboard: http://zeroclipboard.org/
• Clippy: https://github.com/mojombo/clippy (was used by GitHub and still used by many other major sites for Copy button)
• "Flash-Free" Clipboard for the Web: https://hacks.mozilla.org/2015/09/flash-free-7-for-the-web/
• Javascript Copy To Clipboard: http://dynamic-tools.net/toolbox/copyToClipboard/
• Clipboard Copy (in JavaScript): http://www.jeffothy.com/weblog/clipboard-copy/ (no longer works in latest browsers, after Flash 10+, need to initiate copy action from Flash object to copy to clipboard, workaround is to overlay transparent component over HTML)
• How to copy to the clipboard using vanilla JavaScript: https://flaviocopes.com/clipboard-api/
• Stop Rashly Copying Commands From Websites: https://medium.com/javascript-in-plain-english/why-you-should-never-rashly-copy-commands-from-websites-4ae476441530 | DEMO (JS can easily trick you into copying/pasting something malicious, by displaying one thing but storing another thing in your clipboard, so never paste directly into a Terminal/Console or other GUI wherein running commands within it can potentially impact your operating system or files)

Tutorials

• Tricks with Notepad++: http://a4apphack.com/index.php/featured/tricks-with-notepad
• Notepad++ -- Missing Convert to UNIX in new version? (nope, it just moved): http://kwatog.com/blog/notepad-missing-convert-to-unix/
• How to Convert Japanese Shift-JIS Text to UTF-8: http://internetmarketingcoding.com/how-to-convert-japanese-shift-jis-text-to-utf-8
• How to not get caught plagiarizing: http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2011/11/how_to_not_get_caught_plagiari.php
• The mysterious disappearance of "­" ­ character: http://www.dam.brown.edu/people/fb/shy173.html
• Select range of lines in notepad++: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/19161262/select-range-of-lines-in-notepad (useful for deleting or copying/pasting large areas in large files, instead of trying to scroll a selection)
• EOL conversion in notepad++ using RegEx: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/16239551/eol-conversion-in-notepad
• Convert tabs to spaces in Notepad++: https://stackoverflow.com/a/17670440
• How to add an image with link in Markdown: http://www.disturbancesinthewash.net/journal/2012/8/11/how-to-add-an-image-with-link-in-markdown.html
• HTML encoding issues - “” character showing up instead of “ ”: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1461907/html-encoding-issues-Â-character-showing-up-instead-of-nbsp
• Unicode, UTF8 & Character Sets: The Ultimate Guide: https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2012/06/all-about-unicode-utf8-character-sets/
• Why Is the Pound Symbol ("£") Displayed as a Question Mark or Rectangular Box On My Web Page?: https://www.thesitewizard.com/html-tutorial/pound-sign-not-showing-up-correctly.shtml
• Weird characters like â are showing up on my site: blog.codeasite.com/weird-characters-like-a-are-showing-up-on-my-site/
• Text to Image: https://towardsdatascience.com/text-to-image-a3b201b003ae
• Techniques to Display Text over Background Images: https://uxdesign.cc/techniques-to-display-text-over-background-images-b089de1cc8bc
• Returning from Post-it or Full Screen mode without shortcuts: https://community.notepad-plus-plus.org/topic/18967/returning-from-post-it-or-full-screen-mode-without-shortcuts

External Links

• wikipedia: Text Editor
• wikipedia: List of text editors
• wikipedia: Comparison of hex editors
• wikipedia: Editor war
• wikipedia: Real-time text
• wikipedia: Text over IP
• wikipedia: Shift JIS
• wikipedia: Latin-1 Supplement (Unicode block)
• The Unicode Consortium: http://www.unicode.org/
• J.otDown -- Simple Web Based Notepad: http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/jotdowncom-web-based-notepad/
• Luminotes -- Your Personal & Free Online Notebook: http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/luminotes-personal-online-notebook/
• Plaintext Lorem Ipsum generator (create arbitrary text to fill UI components): http://lipsum.com/
• HTML-based Lorem Ipsum examples (lists, paragraphs, div blocks, etc): http://html-ipsum.com/
• Fonts on the web and a list of web safe fonts: http://dustinbrewer.com/fonts-on-the-web-and-a-list-of-web-safe-fonts/
• Haiku-o-Matic: http://www.smalltime.com/haiku.html
• In Japan, fax machines remain important because of language and culture: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/in-japan-fax-machines-find-a-final-place-to-thrive/2012/06/07/gJQAshFPMV_story.html
• Coffee cup sign (in plain text, and how to type it on Windows/Mac/Linux): https://fsymbols.com/signs/coffee-cup/
• Practical Typography - Line Length: https://practicaltypography.com/line-length.html (advocates for 45-90 characters where possible for Content)

See Also

SMS | MMS | IM | Typography | Book | CSS | Language | Regular Expression | NLP | Translation | TTS | CMS | WYSIWYG