Markdown guide

ASCII banners for GitHub READMEs

Create a readable ASCII project title, preserve its spacing in Markdown, and keep your README accessible and easy to maintain.

Why use a text banner?

An ASCII banner can give an open-source project a recognizable title without adding a binary image to the repository. The key is keeping it short, readable, and fenced as code.

Start with Standard, Slant, ANSI Shadow, or Small. These styles stay recognizable in both GitHub’s desktop layout and narrow mobile viewports.

A safe starting pattern

```text
    _    ____  ___
   / \  |  _ \|_ _|
  / _ \ | |_) || |
 / ___ \|  __/ | |
/_/   \_\_|   |___|
```

Use a fenced code block

Triple backticks preserve leading spaces and line breaks. Add the optional text language label so syntax highlighters do not color individual punctuation marks.

Keep the real project name nearby

ASCII art is visual text, but screen readers and search engines should not have to decode it. Keep a normal Markdown heading above or below the banner.

Generate your version

Open the full gallery, enter the final text, set the target width, then copy the output with the wrapper that matches this workflow.