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# Glossary

Below are definitions of terms used across the API, exception messages and the documentation.

Note

For contributors, some of these terms are also used in the source code, as variable names, in comments, docstrings, etc.

active terminal

  The terminal emulator connected to the first TTY device discovered upon loading the `term_image` package.

  At times, this may also be used to refer to the TTY device itself.

  See also

  The Active Terminal

alignment

  The position of a primary render output within its padding.

  See also

  Alignment

alpha threshold

  Alpha ratio/value above which a pixel is taken as opaque (applies only to Text-based Render Styles).

  See also

  Transparency

animated

  Having multiple frames.

  The frames of an animated image are generally meant to be displayed in rapid succession, to give the effect of animation.

automatic size
automatic sizing

  A form of sizing wherein an image’s size is computed based on a combination of a frame size, the image’s original size and a given width or height.

  This form of sizing tries to preserve image aspect ratio and can be used with both fixed sizing and dynamic sizing.

  See also

  manual sizing, `Size`, `size` and `set_size()`

cell ratio

  The aspect ratio (i.e the ratio of width to height) of a character cell on a terminal screen.

  See also

  `get_cell_ratio()` and `set_cell_ratio()`

descendant

  Refers to an attribute, property or setting set on a class which applies to that class and all its subclasses on which the attribute, property or setting is unset.

dynamic size
dynamic sizing

  A form of sizing wherein the image size is automatically computed at render-time.

  This only works with automatic sizing.

  See also

  fixed sizing and `size`

fixed size
fixed sizing

  A form of sizing wherein the image size is set to a specific value which won’t change until it is re-set.

  This works with both manual sizing and automatic sizing.

  See also

  dynamic sizing, `set_size()`, `width` and `height`

frame height

  The height of the area used in automatic sizing.

frame size

  The dimensions of the area used in automatic sizing.

frame width

  The width of the area used in automatic sizing.

horizontal alignment

  The horizontal position of a primary render output within its padding width.

  See also

  Alignment

manual size
manual sizing

  A form of sizing wherein both the width and the height are specified to set the image size.

  This form of sizing does not preserve image aspect ratio and can only be used with fixed sizing.

  See also

  automatic sizing, `size` and `set_size()`

padding

  Amount of lines and columns within which to fit a primary render output.

  See also

  Padding

padding height

  Amount of lines within which to fit a primary render output.

  Excess lines on either or both sides of the render output (depending on the vertical alignment) will be filled with spaces.

  See also

  Padding

padding width

  Amount of columns within which to fit a primary render output.

  Excess columns on either or both sides of the render output (depending on the horizontal alignment) will be filled with spaces.

  See also

  Padding

pixel ratio

  The aspect ratio with which one rendered pixel is drawn/displayed on the terminal screen.

  For Graphics-based Render Styles, this is ideally `1.0`.

  For Text-based Render Styles, this is equivalent to the cell ratio multiplied by 2, since there are technically two times more pixels along the vertical axis than along the horizontal axis in one character cell.

render
rendered
rendering

  The process of encoding pixel data into a byte/character string (possibly including escape sequences to reproduce colour and transparency).

  This string is also called the primary render output and excludes padding.

render method
render methods

  A unique implementation of a render style.

  See also

  Render Methods

render style
render styles
style
styles

  A specific technique for rendering or displaying pixel data (including images) in a terminal emulator.

  A render style (or simply style) is implemented by a class, often referred to as a render style class (or simply style class).

  See also

  Render Styles

rendered height

  The amount of lines that’ll be occupied by a primary render output when drawn (written) onto a terminal screen.

rendered size

  The amount of space (columns and lines) that’ll be occupied by a primary render output when drawn (written) onto a terminal screen.

rendered width

  The amount of columns that’ll be occupied by a primary render output when drawn (written) onto a terminal screen.

source

  The resource from which an image instance is initialized.

  See also

  `source` and `source_type`

terminal height

  The amount of lines on a terminal screen at a time i.e without scrolling.

terminal size

  The amount of columns and lines on a terminal screen at a time i.e without scrolling.

terminal width

  The amount of columns on a terminal screen at a time.

vertical alignment

  The vertical position of a primary render output within its padding height.

  See also

  Alignment