Glyphs

Why these

Unlike letterforms, geometric and box-drawing characters render consistently across nearly every font. The OS doesn't need a special font installed; the terminal doesn't need extra capabilities. They're universally available because they're geometric primitives, not letters — the font just has to know how to draw a horizontal line.

Best fit on PE: admin tools, audit reports, anything that's already CLI-tool-shaped and benefits from being copy-pasteable into a terminal.

Shading & dither

Four density levels. The classic Mac OS selection highlight was a 50% shade; old terminals used these to fake transparency before alpha channels existed.

Half blocks

Top, bottom, left, right. Useful for sub-character resolution — bar charts that need finer steps than a full cell, or chrome that needs to feel half-weight.

Box drawing — single line

The standard ASCII-art table set. Corners, edges, junctions. Use for outlines, tables, tree structures, any boxed-content chrome.

Box drawing — double line

The "loud" variant. Old DOS dialog boxes used these for emphasis — outer frame double, inner sections single. Same visual register as a heavier border in modern UI.

Box drawing — heavy

Thicker than single-line, less ornate than double. Often paired with thin lines for hierarchy — heavy outer frame, thin inner divisions.

Box drawing — rounded

Soft corners. Quieter visual register — a single-line box with rounded corners reads as friendlier than a square one.

Geometric shapes

Filled and outline forms. Use for bullets, status indicators, decorative emphasis.

Arrows

Direction indicators. Use for pagination, navigation hints, before/after relationships, and "leads to" arrows in diagrams.

Marks & status

Affirmation, refusal, attention, and the standard bullet variants. The check-mark and X are font-safe across all systems — no emoji needed.

Math & measurement

Comparison, range, and physical-unit characters. Useful for technical content — status panels, audit reports, anywhere numbers and tolerances appear.