How about a little fun?

I use batch files, make files, etc. to automate build processes quite often, but they can generate output that is, well, so very boring.

Why not liven it up a bit with FIGlets! This is some seriously old school tech, but it’s quite a nice effect if used in moderation.

Instead of just printing:

Build Starting...

in your output, how about:

      ____          __    ___ _____ __
     / __ )__ __(_)/ /___/ / / ___// /_____ ______/ /_(_)___  ____ 
    / __ // / / / / / __/ /\__ \ / __/ __ `/ ___/  __/ / __ \/ __ `
   / /_/ / /_/ / / / /_/ / ___/ / /_/ /_/ / /   / /_/ / / / / /_/ / _ _
  /_____/\__,_/_/_/\__,_/ /____/\__/\__,_/_/\__/_/_/ /_/ /_ \__, (_/_/_)
                                                           /____/

Makes it much more obvious when things have started or finished.

To generate one-off text snippets like this, go to The Ascii Generator.

or, for real flexibility, just download the original FIGlet command line utility. Be sure to get all the various fonts. Personally, I like the SLANT font the best (the example above is in SLANT).

Then you can just use:

FIGlet -f slant "Build Starting..."
....
FIGlet -f slant "Build Finished..."

in your batch files for some real early 90’s chic!