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NFO / ANS Editor

A browser-based editor and viewer for NFO, ANS and ANSI art files. No install, no server — open index.html and go.

Features

View & Open

Drag-and-drop or browse for .nfo .ans .diz .asc .txt files
Full CP437 character set rendering with authentic IBM VGA 8x16 bitmap font
ANSI escape code parser: colors, bold, cursor movement (ESC[C, ESC[H, etc.)
Adjustable column width (80 / 160 / auto)

New Canvas

[ NEW ▾ ] opens a dropdown with three options:

Empty — configure columns and rows
From clipboard — reads the system clipboard and auto-detects column width; falls back to the ANSI code dialog if the clipboard is empty or inaccessible
From ANSI code — paste raw ANSI escape sequences into a textarea (supports \x1b and \033 escape notation)

Edit

Text mode — type directly onto the canvas with active FG/BG color
Draw mode — click or drag to paint cells with any character + color
- Right-click to erase (drag to erase multiple cells)
Select mode — drag to select a rectangular region
- Cut / Copy (Ctrl+C also copies plain text to the system clipboard) / Paste
- Paste from system clipboard (Ctrl+V) — supports ASCII art and ANSI art from external apps
- Move — click inside a selection and drag to reposition content
Eyedropper — right-click any cell to pick its FG/BG color; or use [ PICK ] for one-shot pick
256-color picker — click the FG or BG color button to open a popup with:
- 16 system colors
- 6×6×6 color cube (arranged as 6 distinct planes)
- 24-step grayscale ramp
Full CP437 character set via the character picker (F2)
Insert / delete rows
Zoom in/out
Undo / Redo (50 steps)

Image → ANSI

Convert any image to ANSI art directly in the browser:

Configurable column/row count with optional aspect-ratio lock
ASCII-tecken mode — maps pixel luminance to a character density ramp ( .:-=+*#%@) with palette color per cell
Half-block mode (▀) — double vertical resolution using foreground + background color per cell
Full-block mode (█) — one palette color per cell
256-color mode — uses all 256 xterm colors for nearest-color matching (much better accuracy for photos)
Floyd–Steinberg dithering for better color gradients

Save & Export

[ SAVE ] — saves directly back to the original file (Chrome/Edge only via File System Access API); on other browsers the button is disabled
- Ctrl+S triggers save; if no file handle exists a save-as dialog appears
[ EXPORT ▾ ] — always downloads a new file:

Format	Description
`.ANS`	ANSI escape codes + color, standard terminal format; 256-color sequences (`38;5;N`) used automatically when needed
`.NFO plain`	Raw CP437 text, no color codes, `\r\n` line endings
`.HTML`	Self-contained HTML with inline color styles

Tabs & Session

Multiple files open simultaneously in tabs
Session auto-saved to localStorage — reloading the page restores all tabs and canvas content

Keyboard Shortcuts

Shortcut	Action
`Ctrl+O`	Open file
`Ctrl+N`	New (opens dropdown)
`Ctrl+S`	Save directly to file (Chrome/Edge)
`Ctrl+Shift+S`	Export HTML
`Ctrl+Z`	Undo
`Ctrl+Y`	Redo
`Ctrl+C`	Copy selection (+ to system clipboard)
`Ctrl+X`	Cut selection
`Ctrl+V`	Paste — from app clipboard or system clipboard
`Tab`	Toggle Text ↔ Draw mode
`F2`	Open character picker
`Esc`	Exit edit mode / close dialogs
`Ctrl+Delete`	Delete current row
`Ctrl+Insert`	Insert empty row
`Ctrl++` / `Ctrl+-`	Zoom in / out

Usage

Clone or download the repo
Place ibm_vga_8x16.woff in the same folder (IBM VGA 8x16 font file)
Open index.html in a modern browser
Drop an NFO/ANS file onto the page or click [ OPEN ]

No build step, no dependencies, no network required after initial font load.

Font

The editor uses the IBM VGA 8x16 bitmap font for authentic rendering. The font file (ibm_vga_8x16.woff) is not included in this repo — source it from int10h.org (The Ultimate Oldschool PC Font Pack).

Browser Support

Feature	Chrome/Edge	Firefox	Safari
Editor (view, edit, export)	✓	✓	✓
Save directly to file (`Ctrl+S`)	✓	—	—
Open with file handle	✓	—	—

Direct save requires the File System Access API, supported in Chrome 86+ and Edge 86+.