play with textmode.js

🧠 1. Why Pay Attention to textmode.js?

Mainly because the author really cares about it. I first discovered textmode.js through Discord channels like Birb’s Nest or The Coding Train. What truly inspired me was editor.textmode.art — I realized how friendly it is for newcomers in creative coding when a project offers a smart, elegant, and intuitive visual editor. Later, I followed the author’s own Discord channel. He updates frequently and clearly holds himself to a high standard. Many creators also share their work made with textmode, which helped me gradually understand this library better.

Here’s what stood out to me:

1. It borrows some ideas from P5.js, so it’s beginner-friendly.
2. It’s built on WebGL, which gives it excellent performance and animation capabilities.
3. It’s lightweight, has zero dependencies, supports multiple use cases, and is open-source — clearly a labor of love.
4. Its overall aesthetic reminds people of nostalgic 8-bit pixel art, which caught my eye even though I’m not a pixel-art enthusiast.

I finally had some free time to explore this library during the holidays, so I decided to write this article. This isn’t meant to be an official tutorial or an art showcase — more like a reflection on experience and insight.

🧪 2. Exploring the textmode Community

On reddit/r/textmode, you can get a quick overview of the broader textmode ecosystem — many different technologies and software tools can create textmode-style works, each with its own focus.

Still, textmode.js has a distinct identity. From the author’s Discord updates, it’s clear the project is still expanding in creative directions:

1. Textmode for images — turning pictures into stylized, text-based visuals.
2. Textmode for videos — reinterpreting video frames in text form. It’s interesting because modern video design often chases visual attraction, while textmode.js offers a more deliberate, nostalgic control.
3. Dynamic textmode — using WebGL-based 3D rendering to build shapes with text. It creates a completely new flavor compared to ordinary rendering.

💥 3. Textmode Meets Chinese Characters

At first glance, most people naturally associate textmode with pixel art. The author even recommends pixel-style fonts — it makes the final result look cohesive.

Strictly speaking, textmode is best suited for creative coders, designers, or digital art enthusiasts who:

• Have some JS experience (ideally P5.js).
• Want to explore dynamic effects (some GLSL/shader knowledge helps).
• Appreciate the pixel-art aesthetic, but value reusability and automation in creation.

Even so, I found myself connecting textmode to Chinese characters. After all, Chinese is often called “square script,” and textmode also relies on a precise grid system — the similarity feels natural.

The artwork Two Trees by Chu Sixian (aka “freeman”) inspired me to experiment with textmode. In that piece, the sky is filled with blue text — “蓝天” (Chinese for “blue sky”) and “blue sky” in English.

That made me wonder: could an image be composed entirely of words instead of lines? Textmode makes that possible.

So I tried recreating the picture in this way. For Chinese users, each character can already carry meaning — for example:

• 艹 / 草 = grass
• 花 = flower
• 木 = tree / wood
• 石 = stone
• 阳 / 日 = sun
• 云 = cloud

So the left image can essentially be read as the right one — abstract, but understandable, even without emojis or illustrations.

Almost everyone knows what this image is, even though it’s extremely simple ：

Then I redrew another simple image using Chinese characters — the result reminded me of Arabic calligraphy.

from pinterest by Swara sara

It made me think: even without strong drawing or coding skills, could textmode open new creative doors?

🏊 4. Some Thoughts and Possibilities

Strengthening the Technical Side

If textmode.js continues to deepen its technical foundation, it will naturally attract people with programming skills. Dynamic textmode is visually powerful, but it has a higher learning curve.

You attract beginners by offering something simple. You attract experts by offering something deep.

Attracting Everyday Users

But what if textmode wanted to reach non-programmers — people who can’t code or draw? How could it inspire them to play, experiment, and maybe even learn?

• There could be a marketplace for assets and examples, with easy-to-use UI wrappers instead of direct code.
• Static works (like pixel art) would be cheaper; dynamic ones (requiring shaders) more valuable.
• Layered or combinable tools could simplify recoloring and reuse — something like place.textmode.art could be repurposed for this.
• Objects could be wrapped as callable functions — a cute character, a cat, explosions, message boxes for a visual novel, and so on.

In short, an ecosystem where people consume each other’s creativity.

• Character controls: space to shoot, arrow keys to move.
• Map building: the browser as an infinite 2D canvas, powered by strong shader performance.
• Event triggers: collisions, dialogues, data passing.
• Collaborative projects: multiple users building and playing together.

It’s almost like a flat version of Roblox — but entirely browser-based, which is pretty exciting.

Some additional things to consider:

1. Browser-based means the code is partially public. Artists should be able to choose between free and paid releases — and get protected when they choose not to go free.
2. If textmode is only used decoratively, it loses its core — the text itself. Imagine if the real message or secret of a story was hidden inside those textured lines of text. I recommend reading Texts as Toys by Venkatesh Rao — it captures this spirit beautifully.

Summary

In the end, what draws me to textmode.js isn’t just its code or visuals — it’s the idea that text itself can be a material for expression. Between symbols and pixels, between meaning and pattern, there’s a space where words can become images, and images can start to speak. That’s where I’d like to keep exploring.

Projects like textmode.js show how small, focused ideas can inspire whole communities. If you’ve ever wanted to draw with code — or write with shapes — this is a great place to start. I’ll keep exploring, and I hope more people join this little text-based universe.