S.F. Eley #9 Mon Apr 15 22:21:57 1991 5PART ][: 2Animationn n n n n n n n Annninmnaantninon5!4!5A4!5n4!5i4!5m4!5a4!5t4!5i4!5o4!5n4! 57(And other fun stuff) This section is a brief run-down of the "gimmicks" commonly used in WWIV  message bases, sometimes for entering messages (Huh? What's THAT??) but more  commonly for enhancing the coolness value of the posting user's Macro.  Briefly, and in no particular order, here they are: 21. 55RPHS You'll notice that most macros of any significant coolness will utilize at  least PART of the IBM's fantastic Extended-ASCII Character Set.. If not the  nifty lettering, then at least some of the -type line graphics. This is actually very easy to do, IF you have the right type of Comm program. 10Certain programs (such as Qmodem) have immense troubles sending extended-ASCII  across the modem lines; with Qmodem it IS possible, given the right script  file, but with many others it just can't be done. However, with 1MOST 0comm  programs (Telix, Procomm, Boyan, etc.) here's how it's done: a. Hold down the ALT- key. b. While holding it down, type the ASCII number of the character you want to send, 573ON THE NUMERIC KEYPAD!! 0The upper row of numbers won't do it. c. Let go of the ALT- key, and your character appears!! 7(*APPLAUSE*) If you don't know any of the ASCII numbers (most of us aren't weird enough  to try memorizing them) you'll have to look 'em up in a chart. Fortunately there are MANY charts available, including one in the g-files  Graphics section here, typed by our very own Sysop. Aren't we LUCKY?? (Nod your head and say "Oooh, why YES!!" and hope for an access raise.) It's possible to get very, VERY creative with the Ex-ASCII characters, as  my own macro (at the end of this seminar) proves. There is an easier way to  do 'em, and that's with TheDraw, but we will get to that later. 22. 5C13o1l23o75r4!0 (And the infamous 6Blinking Red0) This is actually the easiest trick of all in 1WWIV0, for those who know how  to do it. All that it involves is hitting 15CTRL-P0, followed by a number  between 1-7 or 0. You can experiment to find the colors by yourself; or you  can take my word that they go in the order 11 22 33 445 5 66 77 00. 7APPENDUM: 0If you get tired of the homogenous, conformist colors that they  give you (or simply annoyed by 6entire posts in which the idiot posts nothing 6but blinking red for 157 lines0) you can change any and all of your colors in  the D:efaults section, from the main menu prompt. Be daring! Sysops love it! 23. 035Animationmatn an An nAaAtamAnoitaminAtamA aA A Ananmatnnimation This, if done skillfully, is the most challenging and most fun-to-watch  part of 1WWIV 0gimmickry. The actual principle is simple: 150Hit 5CTRL-N0, and  your previous character is given a stored backspace (i.e. it appears and then  is backspaced in the message, when it's read). With this, you can pull  timing tricks, lettering tricks, color tricks, make things vanish and appear  ALL OVER the line, make things spinsn nsnipsns snpin, expand, contract, flash, vibrate, bounce,  control the reader's mind subliminally (nyahhhh), whatever your imagination  can handle. The only limitations are that: 1A) 0you are limited to that one  line, and 1B) 0you are limited to a certain real-line length (i.e. you can't put  15,000 CTRL-N's in). I THINK the length limit is 255 characters (including  control-N) but I'm not sure. So whatever you do, will have to be short and  compact. The only alternative is to convince your SysOp to install an  external editor which stores cursor movements.. So far I don't know of any,  "animation" possibilities. 3 7AGAIN!