Transformation of text
Encyclopedia
Transformation of text is strategies to perform geometric transformations on text (reversals, rotations, etc), particularly in systems that do not natively support transformation, such as HTML
, seven-segment display
s and plain text
.
(CSS), since proposed specifications for CSS3 include rotation for block elements. In the meantime, several ways of producing the visual effects of text transformations have come into use.
The most common of these transformations are rotation and reflection.
Unicode
supports a variety of characters that resemble transformed characters, primarily for various forms of phonetic transcription
. Each of these character names indicates what kind of transformation the characters have undergone:
that do not permit rotation of text; using Unicode characters (especially those in the International Phonetic Alphabet
), a very close approximation of upside-down text (also called flip text) can be achieved. The letters s, x, z and o are rotationally symmetrical
, while pairs such as b/q, d/p and n/u are rotations of each other. The rest of the letters have been encoded into the Unicode IPA section, creating a full set of upside-down lowercase letters. Coverage of upside-down uppercase letters is far more sparse, and there is no support for upside down numbers (except 0, 8, and 6/9), but punctuation (by use of such characters as the interpunct
and the inverted question mark and exclamation point) is mostly covered. Several Internet utilities exist for the transformation of regular text to (and sometimes from) upside-down text; each has its own slightly different algorithm for letters not precisely or well covered. A list of converters and algorithms can be found at the list below.
A similar process is USD encoding, which uses characters entirely within the ASCII
character set. Because it is almost entirely alphanumeric, it is far more compatible with other programs that do not support Unicode, and more readily typed by hand. However, the text created by using USD encoding is far less legible, and in fact more closely resembles Leet
. Another problem is that because not all letters fit well, the USD algorithms cannot be a complete involution (i.e., completely convertible back and forth) and contain a complete set of letters at the same time. For instance, the Albartus USD algorithm example seen in the "Examples" section below has k, T, t, and R still in their upright positions. Another issue with USD encoding is the use of italic type
. The letter "a" will, in most typefaces using italic fonts, render it as a "one-story" Latin alpha
, thus causing problems with any word using that letter as a lowercase "e." Oblique type
does not have this problem.
Below is a table of one particular algorithm (Tomas Schild's upsidedown.info) and its complete transformation of lowercase, numeric and punctuation output. Note that the numeric output uses characters from hangul
(Korean) for 2, the Latin epsilon for 3, as well as bopomofo
(Chinese) for 4 and 7. (An earlier implementation of the Schild algorithm used a Canadian Aboriginal syllabics
character, ᔭ, for upside-down 4.) Unusual sources for number transformations are necessary to achieve results that, at least cosmetically, are legible.
and overlining
) than horizontally, and that most fonts are taller than they are wider, making simulated sideways text look significantly more awkward.
Internet Explorer
has a CSS
property that will rotate normally entered text 90 degrees clockwise:
However, no other major browsers (Mozilla Firefox
, Opera
nor WebKit
based browsers such as Google Chrome
) support this writing-mode property. However, CSS3 defines rotation for block elements, which should make the visual rotation of HTML text available to standards-compliant browsers as they are developed to support CSS3 completely.
The most common way around these problems is to use image
s of text, which can then be rotated and transformed in an image editor at will, and to represent the text in those images with the alt attribute
so that search engines and text-only browsers can read it properly.
, among other sources, are among the numerous characters that can be used to further generate this effect. Reversed text can use capital letters mixed with lowercase, as opposed to the strict lowercase used by upside-down transformation (upside-down lowercase and capital letters do not generally align as they would upright, though reversed letters do).
X-axis symmetry is visible in the letters B, C, D, E, H, I, K, O, and in some fonts a and l, as well as in the pairs of a/g, b/p, d/q, e/G, and f/t. Expanding to Cyrillic and Greek produces more symmetries, such as Λ/V and Γ/L.
The Fixedsys Excelsior
typeface includes a complete set of reversed characters like this in its Private Use Area. However, online utilities to create mirrored text are not readily available, and most sites that claim to "mirror text" or "reverse text" in fact only change the order of the letters and do not actually flip the letters themselves.
Example of reversed text reflected along a y-axis:
Poet Darius Bacon has written two examples of palindromic
poetry that reads the same upside-down as it does upside right.
HTML
HyperText Markup Language is the predominant markup language for web pages. HTML elements are the basic building-blocks of webpages....
, seven-segment display
Seven-segment display
A seven-segment display , or seven-segment indicator, is a form of electronic display device for displaying decimal numerals that is an alternative to the more complex dot-matrix displays...
s and plain text
Plain text
In computing, plain text is the contents of an ordinary sequential file readable as textual material without much processing, usually opposed to formatted text....
.
Implementation
Many systems, such as HTML, seven-segment displays and plain text, do not support transformation of text. In the case of HTML, this limitation in display may eventually be addressed through standard cascading style sheetsCascading Style Sheets
Cascading Style Sheets is a style sheet language used to describe the presentation semantics of a document written in a markup language...
(CSS), since proposed specifications for CSS3 include rotation for block elements. In the meantime, several ways of producing the visual effects of text transformations have come into use.
The most common of these transformations are rotation and reflection.
Unicode
Unicode
Unicode is a computing industry standard for the consistent encoding, representation and handling of text expressed in most of the world's writing systems...
supports a variety of characters that resemble transformed characters, primarily for various forms of phonetic transcription
Phonetic transcription
Phonetic transcription is the visual representation of speech sounds . The most common type of phonetic transcription uses a phonetic alphabet, e.g., the International Phonetic Alphabet....
. Each of these character names indicates what kind of transformation the characters have undergone:
- Reversed characters, those that have been reflected in a vertical line (i.e., flipped horizontally);
- Inverted characters, those that have been reflected on a horizontal line (i.e., flipped vertically, only one letter has been done this way);
- Turned characters, those that have been rotated 180 degrees and thus appear upside-down (this is the most common);
- Sideways characters, those that have been rotated 90 degrees counterclockwise (generally the least supported, and used only for a handful of vowels in the Uralic Phonetic AlphabetUralic Phonetic AlphabetThe Uralic Phonetic Alphabet or Finno-Ugric transcription system is a phonetic transcription or notational system used predominantly for the transcription and reconstruction of Uralic languages...
system).
Upside-down text
Strategies can be used to render words upside down in languages such as HTMLHTML
HyperText Markup Language is the predominant markup language for web pages. HTML elements are the basic building-blocks of webpages....
that do not permit rotation of text; using Unicode characters (especially those in the International Phonetic Alphabet
International Phonetic Alphabet
The International Phonetic Alphabet "The acronym 'IPA' strictly refers [...] to the 'International Phonetic Association'. But it is now such a common practice to use the acronym also to refer to the alphabet itself that resistance seems pedantic...
), a very close approximation of upside-down text (also called flip text) can be achieved. The letters s, x, z and o are rotationally symmetrical
Rotational symmetry
Generally speaking, an object with rotational symmetry is an object that looks the same after a certain amount of rotation. An object may have more than one rotational symmetry; for instance, if reflections or turning it over are not counted, the triskelion appearing on the Isle of Man's flag has...
, while pairs such as b/q, d/p and n/u are rotations of each other. The rest of the letters have been encoded into the Unicode IPA section, creating a full set of upside-down lowercase letters. Coverage of upside-down uppercase letters is far more sparse, and there is no support for upside down numbers (except 0, 8, and 6/9), but punctuation (by use of such characters as the interpunct
Interpunct
An interpunct —also called an interpoint—is a small dot used for interword separation in ancient Latin script, which also appears in some modern languages as a stand-alone sign inside a word. It is present in Unicode as code point ....
and the inverted question mark and exclamation point) is mostly covered. Several Internet utilities exist for the transformation of regular text to (and sometimes from) upside-down text; each has its own slightly different algorithm for letters not precisely or well covered. A list of converters and algorithms can be found at the list below.
A similar process is USD encoding, which uses characters entirely within the ASCII
ASCII
The American Standard Code for Information Interchange is a character-encoding scheme based on the ordering of the English alphabet. ASCII codes represent text in computers, communications equipment, and other devices that use text...
character set. Because it is almost entirely alphanumeric, it is far more compatible with other programs that do not support Unicode, and more readily typed by hand. However, the text created by using USD encoding is far less legible, and in fact more closely resembles Leet
Leet
Leet , also known as eleet or leetspeak, is an alternative alphabet for the English language that is used primarily on the Internet. It uses various combinations of ASCII characters to replace Latinate letters...
. Another problem is that because not all letters fit well, the USD algorithms cannot be a complete involution (i.e., completely convertible back and forth) and contain a complete set of letters at the same time. For instance, the Albartus USD algorithm example seen in the "Examples" section below has k, T, t, and R still in their upright positions. Another issue with USD encoding is the use of italic type
Italic type
In typography, italic type is a cursive typeface based on a stylized form of calligraphic handwriting. Owing to the influence from calligraphy, such typefaces often slant slightly to the right. Different glyph shapes from roman type are also usually used—another influence from calligraphy...
. The letter "a" will, in most typefaces using italic fonts, render it as a "one-story" Latin alpha
Latin alpha
Latin alpha or script a is a letter of the Latin alphabet, based on one lowercase form of a, or on the Greek lowercase alpha...
, thus causing problems with any word using that letter as a lowercase "e." Oblique type
Oblique type
Oblique type is a form of type that slants slightly to the right, used in the same manner as italic type. Unlike italic type, however, it does not use different glyph shapes; it uses the same glyphs as roman type, except distorted...
does not have this problem.
Below is a table of one particular algorithm (Tomas Schild's upsidedown.info) and its complete transformation of lowercase, numeric and punctuation output. Note that the numeric output uses characters from hangul
Hangul
Hangul,Pronounced or ; Korean: 한글 Hangeul/Han'gŭl or 조선글 Chosŏn'gŭl/Joseongeul the Korean alphabet, is the native alphabet of the Korean language. It is a separate script from Hanja, the logographic Chinese characters which are also sometimes used to write Korean...
(Korean) for 2, the Latin epsilon for 3, as well as bopomofo
Bopomofo
Zhuyin fuhao , often abbreviated as zhuyin and colloquially called bopomofo, was introduced in the 1910s as the first official phonetic system for transcribing Chinese, especially Mandarin....
(Chinese) for 4 and 7. (An earlier implementation of the Schild algorithm used a Canadian Aboriginal syllabics
Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics
Canadian Aboriginal syllabic writing, or simply syllabics, is a family of abugidas used to write a number of Aboriginal Canadian languages of the Algonquian, Inuit, and Athabaskan language families....
character, ᔭ, for upside-down 4.) Unusual sources for number transformations are necessary to achieve results that, at least cosmetically, are legible.
| Lowercase Letters Letter (alphabet) A letter is a grapheme in an alphabetic system of writing, such as the Greek alphabet and its descendants. Letters compose phonemes and each phoneme represents a phone in the spoken form of the language.... |
z Z Z is the twenty-sixth and final letter of the basic modern Latin alphabet.-Name and pronunciation:In most dialects of English, the letter's name is zed , reflecting its derivation from the Greek zeta but in American English, its name is zee , deriving from a late 17th century English dialectal... |
ʎ | x X X is the twenty-fourth letter in the basic modern Latin alphabet.-Uses:In mathematics, x is commonly used as the name for an independent variable or unknown value. The usage of x to represent an independent or unknown variable can be traced back to the Arabic word šay شيء = “thing,” used in Arabic... |
ʍ | ʌ | n N N is the fourteenth letter in the basic modern Latin alphabet.- History of the forms :One of the most common hieroglyphs, snake, was used in Egyptian writing to stand for a sound like English ⟨J⟩, because the Egyptian word for "snake" was djet... |
ʇ | s S S is the nineteenth letter in the ISO basic Latin alphabet.-History: Semitic Šîn represented a voiceless postalveolar fricative . Greek did not have this sound, so the Greek sigma came to represent... |
ɹ | b B B is the second letter in the basic modern Latin alphabet. It is used to represent a variety of bilabial sounds , most commonly a voiced bilabial plosive.-History:... |
d D D is the fourth letter in the basic modern Latin alphabet.- History :The Semitic letter Dâlet may have developed from the logogram for a fish or a door. There are various Egyptian hieroglyphs that might have inspired this. In Semitic, Ancient Greek, and Latin, the letter represented ; in the... |
o O O is the fifteenth letter and a vowel in the basic modern Latin alphabet.The letter was derived from the Semitic `Ayin , which represented a consonant, probably , the sound represented by the Arabic letter ع called `Ayn. This Semitic letter in its original form seems to have been inspired by a... |
u U U is the twenty-first letter and a vowel in the basic modern Latin alphabet.-History:The letter U ultimately comes from the Semitic letter Waw by way of the letter Y. See the letter Y for details.... |
ɯ | l L Ł or ł, described in English as L with stroke, is a letter of the Polish, Kashubian, Sorbian, Łacinka , Łatynka , Wilamowicean, Navajo, Dene Suline, Inupiaq, Zuni, Hupa, and Dogrib alphabets, several proposed alphabets for the Venetian language, and the ISO 11940 romanization of the Thai alphabet... |
ʞ | ɾ | ı I I is the ninth letter and a vowel in the basic modern Latin alphabet.-History:In Semitic, the letter may have originated in a hieroglyph for an arm that represented a voiced pharyngeal fricative in Egyptian, but was reassigned to by Semites, because their word for "arm" began with that sound... |
ɥ | ɓ | ɟ | ǝ | p P P is the sixteenth letter of the basic modern Latin alphabet.-Usage:In English and most other European languages, P is a voiceless bilabial plosive. Both initial and final Ps can be combined with many other discrete consonants in English words... |
ɔ | q Q Q is the seventeenth letter of the basic modern Latin alphabet.- History :The Semitic sound value of Qôp was , a sound common to Semitic languages, but not found in English or most Indo-European ones... |
ɐ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 007A | 028E | 0078 | 028D | 028C | 006E | 0287 | 0073 | 0279 | 0062 | 0064 | 006F | 0075 | 026F | 006C | 029E | 027E | 0131 | 0265 | 0253 | 025F | 01DD | 0070 | 0254 | 0071 | 0250 | |
| Uppercase Letters Letter (alphabet) A letter is a grapheme in an alphabetic system of writing, such as the Greek alphabet and its descendants. Letters compose phonemes and each phoneme represents a phone in the spoken form of the language.... |
Z Z Z is the twenty-sixth and final letter of the basic modern Latin alphabet.-Name and pronunciation:In most dialects of English, the letter's name is zed , reflecting its derivation from the Greek zeta but in American English, its name is zee , deriving from a late 17th century English dialectal... |
⅄ | X X X is the twenty-fourth letter in the basic modern Latin alphabet.-Uses:In mathematics, x is commonly used as the name for an independent variable or unknown value. The usage of x to represent an independent or unknown variable can be traced back to the Arabic word šay شيء = “thing,” used in Arabic... |
M M M is the thirteenth letter of the basic modern Latin alphabet.-History:The letter M is derived from the Phoenician Mem, via the Greek Mu . Semitic Mem probably originally pictured water... |
Λ | ∩ | ⊥ | S S S is the nineteenth letter in the ISO basic Latin alphabet.-History: Semitic Šîn represented a voiceless postalveolar fricative . Greek did not have this sound, so the Greek sigma came to represent... |
ᴚ | Ό | Ԁ | O O O is the fifteenth letter and a vowel in the basic modern Latin alphabet.The letter was derived from the Semitic `Ayin , which represented a consonant, probably , the sound represented by the Arabic letter ع called `Ayn. This Semitic letter in its original form seems to have been inspired by a... |
N N N is the fourteenth letter in the basic modern Latin alphabet.- History of the forms :One of the most common hieroglyphs, snake, was used in Egyptian writing to stand for a sound like English ⟨J⟩, because the Egyptian word for "snake" was djet... |
W W W is the 23rd letter in the basic modern Latin alphabet.In other Germanic languages, including German, its pronunciation is similar or identical to that of English V... |
[[˥]] | ⋊ | ſ S S is the nineteenth letter in the ISO basic Latin alphabet.-History: Semitic Šîn represented a voiceless postalveolar fricative . Greek did not have this sound, so the Greek sigma came to represent... |
I I I is the ninth letter and a vowel in the basic modern Latin alphabet.-History:In Semitic, the letter may have originated in a hieroglyph for an arm that represented a voiced pharyngeal fricative in Egyptian, but was reassigned to by Semites, because their word for "arm" began with that sound... |
H H H .) is the eighth letter in the basic modern Latin alphabet.-History:The Semitic letter ⟨ח⟩ most likely represented the voiceless pharyngeal fricative . The form of the letter probably stood for a fence or posts.... |
⅁ | Ⅎ | Ǝ | ◖ | Ɔ | 𐐒 Deseret alphabet The Deseret alphabet is a phonemic English spelling reform developed in the mid-19th century by the board of regents of the University of Deseret under the direction of Brigham Young, second president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.In public statements, Young claimed the... |
∀ |
| 005A | 2144 | 0058 | 004D | 039B | 2229 | 22A5 | 0053 | 1D1A | 038C | 0500 | 004F | 004E | 0057 | 02E5 | 22CA | 017F | 0049 | 0048 | 2141 | 2132 | 018E | 25D6 | 0186 | 10412 | 2200 | |
| Number Number A number is a mathematical object used to count and measure. In mathematics, the definition of number has been extended over the years to include such numbers as zero, negative numbers, rational numbers, irrational numbers, and complex numbers.... s |
0 0 (number) 0 is both a numberand the numerical digit used to represent that number in numerals.It fulfills a central role in mathematics as the additive identity of the integers, real numbers, and many other algebraic structures. As a digit, 0 is used as a placeholder in place value systems... |
6 | 8 | ㄥ Bopomofo Zhuyin fuhao , often abbreviated as zhuyin and colloquially called bopomofo, was introduced in the 1910s as the first official phonetic system for transcribing Chinese, especially Mandarin.... |
9 | ގ Thaana Thaana, Taana or Tāna is the modern writing system of the Divehi language spoken in the Maldives. Taana has characteristics of both an abugida and a true alphabet , with consonants derived from indigenous and Arabic numerals, and vowels derived from the vowel diacritics of the Arabic abjad... |
ㄣ Bopomofo Zhuyin fuhao , often abbreviated as zhuyin and colloquially called bopomofo, was introduced in the 1910s as the first official phonetic system for transcribing Chinese, especially Mandarin.... |
Ɛ | ᄅ Hangul Hangul,Pronounced or ; Korean: 한글 Hangeul/Han'gŭl or 조선글 Chosŏn'gŭl/Joseongeul the Korean alphabet, is the native alphabet of the Korean language. It is a separate script from Hanja, the logographic Chinese characters which are also sometimes used to write Korean... |
⇂ | ||||||||||||||||
| 0030 | 0036 | 0038 | 3125 | 0039 | 078E | 3123 | 0190 | 1105 | 21C2 | |||||||||||||||||
| Punctuation Punctuation Punctuation marks are symbols that indicate the structure and organization of written language, as well as intonation and pauses to be observed when reading aloud.In written English, punctuation is vital to disambiguate the meaning of sentences... |
⅋ | ‾ | ¿ | ¡ | „ | , | ˙ | ' ' The ' symbol is the apostrophe punctuation mark.The ' symbol may also refer to:*Single quotation mark, ', ‘, or ’*Ejective consonant or modifier letter apostrophe, *[[ʻOkina|Okina]], *Modifier letter right half ring, ʾ... |
؛ | |||||||||||||||||
| 214B | 203E | 00BF | 00A1 | 201E | 002C | 02D9 | 0027 | 061B |
Sideways text
Sideways text presents a unique problem. Though it is likely the most practical (as opposed to artistic) form of text transformation, it is the least supported and is the most difficult to implement. Unlike rotating text 180 degrees, the number of sideways characters falls far short of what would be needed for most purposes, and because text is rendered horizontally, it would be very difficult to render beyond one line of vertical text in a well-aligned manner without columns, especially in proportional fonts (furthermore, each character would require a line break after it). The process of using alternate characters for sideways text is further complicated by the fact that most fonts space letters further apart vertically (to accommodate underliningUnderline
An underline, also called an underscore, is one or more horizontal lines immediately below a portion of writing. Single, and occasionally double , underlining was originally used in hand-written or typewritten documents to emphasise text...
and overlining
Overline
An overline or overbar or overscore , refers to the typographical feature of a line drawn immediately above the text, for example used to indicate medieval sigla. Specifically, a line drawn over one symbol is a macron, and a line over a collection of symbols is a vinculum...
) than horizontally, and that most fonts are taller than they are wider, making simulated sideways text look significantly more awkward.
Internet Explorer
Internet Explorer
Windows Internet Explorer is a series of graphical web browsers developed by Microsoft and included as part of the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems, starting in 1995. It was first released as part of the add-on package Plus! for Windows 95 that year...
has a CSS
Cascading Style Sheets
Cascading Style Sheets is a style sheet language used to describe the presentation semantics of a document written in a markup language...
property that will rotate normally entered text 90 degrees clockwise:
<div style="writing-mode:tb-rl;">
However, no other major browsers (Mozilla Firefox
Mozilla Firefox
Mozilla Firefox is a free and open source web browser descended from the Mozilla Application Suite and managed by Mozilla Corporation. , Firefox is the second most widely used browser, with approximately 25% of worldwide usage share of web browsers...
, Opera
Opera (web browser)
Opera is a web browser and Internet suite developed by Opera Software with over 200 million users worldwide. The browser handles common Internet-related tasks such as displaying web sites, sending and receiving e-mail messages, managing contacts, chatting on IRC, downloading files via BitTorrent,...
nor WebKit
WebKit
WebKit is a layout engine designed to allow web browsers to render web pages. WebKit powers Google Chrome and Apple Safari and by October 2011 held over 33% of the browser market share between them. It is also used as the basis for the experimental browser included with the Amazon Kindle ebook...
based browsers such as Google Chrome
Google Chrome
Google Chrome is a web browser developed by Google that uses the WebKit layout engine. It was first released as a beta version for Microsoft Windows on September 2, 2008, and the public stable release was on December 11, 2008. The name is derived from the graphical user interface frame, or...
) support this writing-mode property. However, CSS3 defines rotation for block elements, which should make the visual rotation of HTML text available to standards-compliant browsers as they are developed to support CSS3 completely.
The most common way around these problems is to use image
Image
An image is an artifact, for example a two-dimensional picture, that has a similar appearance to some subject—usually a physical object or a person.-Characteristics:...
s of text, which can then be rotated and transformed in an image editor at will, and to represent the text in those images with the alt attribute
Alt attribute
The alt attribute is used in HTML and XHTML documents to specify alternative text that is to be rendered when the element to which it is applied cannot be rendered. In HTML 4.01, the attribute is required for the img and area tags...
so that search engines and text-only browsers can read it properly.
Reversed text
Though less widespread, text can also be reversed to be a mirror image of itself. Letters A, H, I, M, O/o, T, U, V/v, W/w, X/x, Y, and in some fonts i and l are symmetrical in the y-axis; the pairs of b/d and p/q transform to each other. The letters И, Я, and г from the Cyrillic alphabetCyrillic alphabet
The Cyrillic script or azbuka is an alphabetic writing system developed in the First Bulgarian Empire during the 10th century AD at the Preslav Literary School...
, among other sources, are among the numerous characters that can be used to further generate this effect. Reversed text can use capital letters mixed with lowercase, as opposed to the strict lowercase used by upside-down transformation (upside-down lowercase and capital letters do not generally align as they would upright, though reversed letters do).
X-axis symmetry is visible in the letters B, C, D, E, H, I, K, O, and in some fonts a and l, as well as in the pairs of a/g, b/p, d/q, e/G, and f/t. Expanding to Cyrillic and Greek produces more symmetries, such as Λ/V and Γ/L.
The Fixedsys Excelsior
Fixedsys Excelsior
Fixedsys Excelsior is an unofficial pan-Unicode extension of the popular Microsoft font Fixedsys. The current version, last updated in 2007, is 3.01....
typeface includes a complete set of reversed characters like this in its Private Use Area. However, online utilities to create mirrored text are not readily available, and most sites that claim to "mirror text" or "reverse text" in fact only change the order of the letters and do not actually flip the letters themselves.
Examples
- Artistry, such as representing the two end zones or player designations on an American footballAmerican footballAmerican football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
gridiron; e.g. "sɹəʅəəʇS ɥɓɹnqsʇʇɪƋPittsburgh SteelersThe Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional football team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The team currently belongs to the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . Founded in , the Steelers are the oldest franchise in the AFC...
"from this example or "sʇuɐɪŋ ʞɹoʎ ʍəNNew York GiantsThe New York Giants are a professional American football team based in East Rutherford, New Jersey, representing the New York City metropolitan area. The Giants are currently members of the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
ƕ" (note the use of hwairHwairHwair is the name of , the Gothic letter expressing the or sound . Hwair is also the name of the Latin ligature .-Name:...
as a dingbatDingbatA dingbat is an ornament, character or spacer used in typesetting, sometimes more formally known as a "printer's ornament" or "printer's character"....
of the team's logo) - Better fit; for instance, rotating column headers on a table sideways would produce a more compact table, desirable particularly in tables that contain mostly abbreviations and numeric values.
- Evoking Russian stereotypesFaux CyrillicFaux Cyrillic, pseudo-Cyrillic, pseudo-Russian or faux Russian typography is the use of Cyrillic letters in Latin text to evoke the Soviet Union or Russia, regardless of whether the letters are phonetic matches. For example, R and N in RUSSIAN may be replaced by Cyrillic Я and И, giving "ЯUSSIAИ"...
, by flipping certain letters one at a time. - Evoking simplicity, such as childlike confusion over the direction of a letter (e.g., "Toys Я Us") or to indicate vulgarity (such as the wordmark for KoЯnKornKorn is an American nu metal band from Bakersfield, California, formed in 1993. The current band line up includes four members: Jonathan Davis, James "Munky" Shaffer, Reginald "Fieldy" Arvizu, and Ray Luzier. The band was formed as an expansion of L.A.P.D.The band released their first demo album,...
). - SymmetrySymmetrySymmetry generally conveys two primary meanings. The first is an imprecise sense of harmonious or aesthetically pleasing proportionality and balance; such that it reflects beauty or perfection...
, such as in the wordmarks for Nine Inch NailsNine Inch NailsNine Inch Nails is an American industrial rock project, founded in 1988 by Trent Reznor in Cleveland, Ohio. As its main producer, singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist, Reznor is the only official member of Nine Inch Nails and remains solely responsible for its direction...
(NIИ), ABBAABBAABBA was a Swedish pop group formed in Stockholm in 1970 which consisted of Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Agnetha Fältskog...
, or The Rush Limbaugh ShowThe Rush Limbaugh ShowThe Rush Limbaugh Show is an American talk radio show hosted by Rush Limbaugh on Premiere Radio Networks...
"EIB" slogan (εıз). The use of transformation in this fashion is known as an ambigramAmbigramAn ambigram is a typographical design or art form that may be read as one or more words not only in its form as presented, but also from another viewpoint, direction, or orientation. The words readable in the other viewpoint, direction or orientation may be the same or different from the original...
. - Calculator spellingCalculator spellingCalculator spelling is a technique of spelling words by reading characters upside-down from calculators equipped with certain kinds of seven-segment displays...
on seven-segment displays, where numbers represent letters upside down (e.g. 07734, "hello"). - Emulating the boustrophedonBoustrophedonBoustrophedon , is a type of bi-directional text, mostly seen in ancient manuscripts and other inscriptions. Every other line of writing is flipped or reversed, with reversed letters. Rather than going left-to-right as in modern English, or right-to-left as in Arabic and Hebrew, alternate lines in...
style of writing, where alternating lines are written in opposite directions. - PentominoPentominoA pentomino is a polyomino composed of five congruent squares, connected along their edges ....
es and tetrominoTetrominoA tetromino is a geometric shape composed of four squares, connected orthogonally. This, like dominoes and pentominoes, is a particular type of polyomino...
es resemble (and are traditionally named after) Latin letters, and the rotation of these letterlike objects forms the basis of several games, including TetrisTetrisTetris is a puzzle video game originally designed and programmed by Alexey Pajitnov in the Soviet Union. It was released on June 6, 1984, while he was working for the Dorodnicyn Computing Centre of the Academy of Science of the USSR in Moscow, Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic...
. - Though not strict transformation, the substitution of a plural "s" with its near-reflection "z" is a fairly common tropeTrope (literature)A literary trope is the usage of figurative language in literature, or a figure of speech in which words are used in a sense different from their literal meaning...
among some minor league sports teamsTeam sportA team sport includes any sport which involves players working together towards a shared objective. A team sport is an activity in which a group of individuals, on the same team, work together to accomplish an ultimate goal which is usually to win. This can be done in a number of ways such as...
in the United States, in order to make team names seem more modern. - Basic encryptionEncryptionIn cryptography, encryption is the process of transforming information using an algorithm to make it unreadable to anyone except those possessing special knowledge, usually referred to as a key. The result of the process is encrypted information...
, to "hide" the answer to a joke or puzzle, for instance:
- Question: How can you tell an introvert from an extrovert at the NSANational Security AgencyThe National Security Agency/Central Security Service is a cryptologic intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the collection and analysis of foreign communications and foreign signals intelligence, as well as protecting U.S...
? - Answer: ˙sǝoɥs s,ʎnƃ ɹǝɥʇo ǝɥʇ ʇɐ sʞool ʇɹǝʌoɹʇxǝ ǝɥʇ 'sɹoʇɐʌǝlǝ ǝɥʇ uı (Using the Revfad algorithm)
- Or: 'saoys s.hn6 R3HTO ayt te skool tJa^oJtxa ayt `sJote^ala ayt uI (using the Albartus USD algorithm)
- In baseball scorekeepingBaseball scorekeepingBaseball scorekeeping is the practice of recording the details of a baseball game as it unfolds. Professional baseball leagues hire official scorers to keep an official record of each game , but many fans keep score as well for their own enjoyment...
, a player who strikes out despite not swinging at the third strike is indicated in the official score book with a reversed K. It is not directly supported in Unicode, but can be approximated with the obsolete IPA symbol or the Cyrillic ЖZhe (Cyrillic)Zhe is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet.It commonly represents the voiced postalveolar fricative , like the pronunciation of ⟨s⟩ in "treasure".Zhe is romanized as ⟨zh⟩ or ⟨ž⟩.-History:...
, the latter of which resembles two Ks back-to-back. - On the SoundgardenSoundgardenSoundgarden is an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington in 1984 by singer Chris Cornell, lead guitarist Kim Thayil, and bassist Hiro Yamamoto...
album SuperunknownSuperunknownSuperunknown is the fourth album by American grunge band Soundgarden, released on March 8, 1994 through A&M Records. Soundgarden began work on the album after touring in support of its previous album, Badmotorfinger...
, all mention of the album or title track (except in the lyrics booklet) is shown as "". - The beverage 7Up during the early 2000s had a spin-off counterpart, known as dnLDnLdnL was the name of a soft drink produced by Cadbury Schweppes Americas Beverages in the United States. It was part of the 7 Up family of soft drinks, and was introduced in September 2002. It was launched in the same year as other attempts to extend soft drink brand names with new iterations,...
, with a significantly different color and flavor as well as caffeine. - FacebookFacebookFacebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
added "upside-down English" as a language choice in summer 2009.
Example of reversed text reflected along a y-axis:
- Example:...иiɒəɒ иɘqo x иoiƨиɘмibParallel universe (fiction)A parallel universe or alternative reality is a hypothetical self-contained separate reality coexisting with one's own. A specific group of parallel universes is called a "multiverse", although this term can also be used to describe the possible parallel universes that constitute reality...
oɟ lɒɟɿoq ɘнɟ ɟʇɘl γbodɘмoƧ (Somebody left the portal to Dimension X open again...)
Poet Darius Bacon has written two examples of palindromic
Palindrome
A palindrome is a word, phrase, number, or other sequence of units that can be read the same way in either direction, with general allowances for adjustments to punctuation and word dividers....
poetry that reads the same upside-down as it does upside right.
Comparison of algorithms
| Converter | Lowercase | Uppercase | Numbers | Reconvert Backward |
Reflection | Character set | Provides HTML |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CedarCreek Labs | Latin characters in Unicode | ||||||
| Flip (revfad.com) |
Latin characters in Unicode | ||||||
| Rot180 (logarithmic.net) |
All of Unicode Unicode Unicode is a computing industry standard for the consistent encoding, representation and handling of text expressed in most of the world's writing systems... Uses combining character Combining character In digital typography, combining characters are characters that are intended to modify other characters. The most common combining characters in the Latin script are the combining diacritical marks .... s for some |
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| Fliptext.org | Latin, with one exception | ||||||
| Fliptext.net | Latin for letters all of Unicode for numbers |
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| FlipThisText.com | Latin, with one exception | ||||||
| Upside Down Letters (sevenwires.com) |
Latin, with one exception | ||||||
| USD encoding (albartus.googlepages.com) |
ASCII ASCII The American Standard Code for Information Interchange is a character-encoding scheme based on the ordering of the English alphabet. ASCII codes represent text in computers, communications equipment, and other devices that use text... |
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| NQAS (superliminal.com) |
, errors | Windows-1252 Windows-1252 Windows-1252 or CP-1252 is a character encoding of the Latin alphabet, used by default in the legacy components of Microsoft Windows in English and some other Western languages. It is one version within the group of Windows code pages... |
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| UpsideDown.info | All of Unicode Unicode Unicode is a computing industry standard for the consistent encoding, representation and handling of text expressed in most of the world's writing systems... |
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| UpsideDownText.com | Errors | Latin characters with Unicode | |||||
| Flipallwords.com | Latin for letters all of Unicode for numbers |
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| Calculator spelling Calculator spelling Calculator spelling is a technique of spelling words by reading characters upside-down from calculators equipped with certain kinds of seven-segment displays... |
, but conceivable | Numerals 0-9 | |||||
| Write upside down (web2generators.com) |
All of Unicode Unicode Unicode is a computing industry standard for the consistent encoding, representation and handling of text expressed in most of the world's writing systems... |