# Formats

This site discusses three formats.

 - [Unicode](Unicode.md)
   - Any sequence of [Unicode Scalar Values], encoded with a standard
     [Unicode encoding form].

 - [Basic Text](BasicText.md)
   - This is intended to realize the intuitive phrases "text" or "plain text"
     which are used in many contexts. It excludes control characters and other
     content unnecessary or impractical for text.

 - [Terminal Support](Terminal.md)
   - This describes a language supporting ANSI-style terminal codes that can be
     layered on top of Basic Text.

 - [Restricted Text](RestrictedText.md)
   - Restricted Text is a hypothetical format at this time.
   - Like Basic Text, but aims to reduce visual ambiguity by trading off some
     support for historical scripts, multiple-script text, formatting, and
     symbols.

The [background information] contains rationale and source information.

[background information]: Background.md
[Unicode Scalar Values]: https://unicode.org/glossary/#unicode_scalar_value
[Unicode encoding form]: https://unicode.org/versions/Unicode15.0.0/ch03.pdf#G7404
