Chapter 6: Formatting according to BANA Standards with DBT

New Paragraph vs. New Line: The Key to Formatting

When you use DBT, you should use styles to format the document correctly. You will be used to pressing the ENTER key at the end of a paragraph. However, you should use the CTRL+M command when you want a new paragraph. For example, when you are in the “para” style, press CTRL+M at the end of each paragraph (this will not skip a braille line, and will indent the paragraph to cell 3, with runover lines at cell 1).

If you use the list or outline style, press the ENTER key at the end of each line. You don’t want a new paragraph (list), you just want a new line within the same paragraph (the same list). When you are done with the outline or list, use the CTRL+M command to create a new paragraph. DBT will apply the same style to the new paragraph, but you can apply a different style by pressing the F8 key.

A Note about Print vs. Braille Formatting

Sometimes DBT formats print documents differently than braille documents. Although this makes sense, it can be easy to forget that the print and braille aren’t always formatted identically. So, if your paragraph isn’t formatted exactly the way you’d like, translate to braille to see what is actually happening in the braille.

Additionally, when you translate from print to braille, you create a completely new document. Therefore, once you translate to braille and if you want to make further changes, be sure to close the braille document rather than translating back to print! The quick way to close a document is to press CTRL+F4 (ALT+F4 will close the program, exiting you from DBT).

Preliminary Pages and the Main Body

The following are guidelines for specific transcriber issues, according to BANA standards; please be sure to refer to the BANA Formats book for a full explanation of how special symbols and formats should be used. These guidelines include how to handle the issues in DBT, and do not include all of the exceptions and special circumstances listed in the Formats book. Explanations of rules are provided courtesy of Susan Christensen, Certified Transcriber. If you are looking for a specific transcriber element and are having difficulty locating it, try checking the Index at the back of this guide.

·         Creating a running head — In order to create a running head, select “Layout: Header...” from the menu. You can tell DBT Whether the header should go on all pages, even or odd pages. By selecting “None”, you can tell DBT to turn off an existing header. Note that there should be no running head on the title page or the first print page after the preliminary pages. In order to do this, you must place the header after the first word of the page before the page the header should start on.

·         Forcing a new braille page — Press CTRL+ENTER.

·         Creating a new print page — Press ALT+ENTER; then type the print page number and a space. Continuation print pages will have an alphabetical prefix in the braille (e.g., 1, A1, B1, etc.)

·         Title Page — Depending on the agency, either centered or at the left margin. The title page should also be centered vertically on the page. This must be done manually. Be sure to check the braille, not the print, for centering. The “tp.general” style centers text horizontally.

·         Dedication Pages — Centered vertically on the braille page. You must center vertically on the page manually, by using the ENTER key. Be sure to check the braille results, not the print.

·         Preliminary Page Numbering — Textbooks have p1 (“p” stands for “preliminary”) starting in the lower right corner on the first page (title page) of the prelims. There are no ink print page numbers (upper right corner) of any preliminary page (including the table of contents). Use the code [pv1~p] to start preliminary page numbering. Place this code at the very beginning of the document. Also, be sure that under “Document: Page Numbering” (from the menu), “First Page Number to Display” is set to “1.”

·         Main Body — Full title goes on the first page of the text, and a running head on all following pages. Running heads are an agency decision, but it should not be longer than one line. See “Creating a Running Head” for instructions on creating the header properly.

·         Main Body Page Numbering— Textbook page number in upper right corner, with running braille page in lower-left corner (no “p”). Set page-numbering placement by using the document menu (or the “textbook” format, which defaults to these settings). You can turn off the prefix by using the code [pvX~] (replacing “X” with the page number).

·         Main Body Normal Paragraph Formatting — Indents to cell three with runover in cell 1. Use the “para.” style.

·         Headings— The style “h1” is for use as a major heading, style “h2” is for use as a minor heading. Major headings are centered, and minor headings are indented at cell 5.

·         Blank lines— usually, styles will handle blank lines automatically. However, should you need to force a skipped line, simply use the code [sk1].

·         Directions— Directions are indented to cell 5, with runover lines at cell 5. I recommend creating a style with the starting code [ind5] and the ending code [ind1[CC1] ]

·         List— A list should be in cell 1, with runover lines in cell 3. Use the “list” style.

·         Exercise Material— First line at cell 1, with runover at three. If the material contains Sub-entries, then the sequence is 1-5, 3-7, 5-9, etc. Start the first line(s) with the “list.” style, and all following sub-entries in the “outline.” style. Remember to use the levels, so the first sub-entry level will be level 1, and you may use ALT+RIGHT ARROW to move in a level (e.g., from level 3 to level 4), ALT+LEFT ARROW to move out a level (e.g., from level 4 to level 3).

·         Beginning and ending boxing lines— These are handled using one style: “box”. Place all text between the start and end of the style, and you will have a boxed paragraph. If the text is already in the document, simply highlight the portion you want boxed, and apply the “box” style.

·         Tables— In order to set tabs for the creation of tables, use the following codes:  [ctb] to clear tabs. [stbS:A:P] where S is the stop number, A is the alignment (l for left; r for right; d for decimal), P is the focal position (cell #). If you want to fill a tab, use the [#S:F~X] code, where S is the stop number, F is the fill type (f for Full, p for Partial), and X is the character (usually double-quotes). Because tables can be so tricky, please call Duxbury Systems technical support if you need further information.

·         Columnar Material — Set tabs as with tables; because columnar material can be so tricky, please call Duxbury Systems technical support if you need further information.

·         Poetry— each level indents 2 and the runover is dependent on the furthest indent —in other words, if I have 4 levels of indent, they would be at 1, 3, 5, 7 and all runovers would be in 9. Use the “poem.” style for a single-level poem; use the “poem.2level.” style for a two-level poem. For a poem with more than two levels, simply add a style based on “poem.2level.”, and change the runover setting of the “hi” code according to the number of levels.

·         Line numbered prose— each new line of text has a corresponding number in the right margin. The line number does not have a number sign. It must have at least two clear cells before that numbered “margin” which is determined by the longest number on that page. Text cannot be on lines 1 or 25 of the braille page (because of the page numbers). Create the following style; I named mine “LineNumber” but you may name it anything that will make sense to you:

Beginning Codes: [lps][fr][ons]

Ending Codes: [lpr][one]

·        At the start of the line numbered prose, perhaps just after the style tag that starts the prose, given an [rm] command (e.g. [rm6]) to bring the right margin in, leaving room for the line numbers. After the end of all line numbered prose, give the command [rm0] to restore the right margin.

·        At the beginning of each print line, use the above style, with the appropriate line number within the style; include spaces after the style where appropriate (where it appears in the print).

·        Where the print line runs over, place the “LineNumber” style after one word on the new print line.

 

·         Line numbered poetry— much the same as line numbered prose, but these are numbered every fifth line. As with line numbered prose, you may use the “LineNumber” style and [rm] command as described above.

·         Footnotes— 7-5 most of the time—other instances are dependent on the format the text is in, such as poetry, and then a footnote starts two cells to the right of the runover cell. For standard footnote formatting, use the “note.” style. For special formatting, modify the “note.” style, but change the number for the [tab] code to two cells to the right of the runover cell. Consider creating a “Poem” template for some situations (i.e., if you know you will need the “note.” style to be applied for a poem).

·         Transcriber’ s Notes— The first line should be set at cell 7, with runover lines at cell 5. The transcriber’s note symbol (dot 6, dot 3) is accessed by using the menu: select “Layout: Character Codes: Termination Sign” or by entering the ASCII symbols manually; the correct format is applied by using the “note.” style. As this is a rather cumbersome method of putting in a transcriber’s note, I recommend creating a style of your own naming (e.g., “tn.”), based on the “note.” style but with the transcriber’s note symbols added. The resulting style should look like this:

Starting codes: [l][ind5][tab7][q~,’]

Ending codes: [q~,’][ind1]

·         Diacritics (pronunciation)— The ASCII representation of the braille must be entered directly into the print. Use the “brlinline” style to keep DBT from trying to translate it. For a list of diacritic marks and the braille equivalents, see Appendix E.

·         Glossaries — are set at cell 1 with runover lines at cell 3, with sub-entries at 1-5 and 3-5 — only two levels; use the “list.” style for the first level, and the “outline.” style for the other two levels.

·        Guidewords (the first and last word of the braille page) are listed on the 25th line, separated by a dash. Create a style (such as “GuideWord”) using the code [meg] as the starting code (no ending code). Use the guide word style for each glossary entry, and DBT will place the guide words appropriately. As an example, if you had the word “mark” at the top of a braille page, and the word “zebra” at the end of a braille page, you would type the word “mark” followed by the “GuideWord” style, and the word “mark” again. Do the same thing for all of the words in the glossary, from beginning to end. In this example, the words “mark” and “zebra” will appear at the bottom of the braille page (on line 25) with a dash between them.

·         Emphasis: Italics — Use the following paired codes; the starting code should be placed before the first italicized word, while the ending code should be placed after the last italicized word:

Starting Code: [fts~i]

Ending Code: [fte~i]

·         Emphasis: Bold — For a single indicator, create a style (such as “bold.single”) containing the starting code [q~_.] and no ending code. For a double indicator, create a style (such as “bold.double”) containing the starting code [q~_..] and no ending code.

A Further List: Miscellaneous Issues

·         Letter signs: how to force & suppress— Force a letter sign by creating a style using the starting code [q~;] and no ending code. Suppress a letter sign by creating a style using the starting code [/] and no ending code.

·         Apostrophe and single quote — The single-quote may be found under the tilde (~) character in the upper-left of the standard American keyboard. The apostrophe is located directly under the double-quote on the standard American keyboard.

·         How to force a new braille page— Press CTRL+ENTER. This will produce the [pg] code. If you want to force a new reference (print) page, press ALT+ENTER.

·         Switching to grade 0 and 1 — Place the cursor at the point where you want DBT to start translating in the new grade, then press the ALT key plus the number of the grade. For instance, if you want to switch to grade 1, press ALT+1.

·         Foreign Languages — If you are transcribing something with foreign words in it, simply apply the style for the language you are transcribing. For instance, if you come across the words “C’est la vie!” apply the “french” style to those words (you will need to highlight those words and then apply the style, or apply the style and then type the words between the beginning and end of the style). If there are special characters (such as a letter with an accent grave), you will find a list of accented letters under the help menu, called “Character List.” Also, you may access a list of special characters and codes under “Layout: Codes List” or pressing the F5 key.

·        Special note on foreign languages: To easily enter accented letters in DBT, load the Portuguese (Brazilian) keyboard.  Then to get an é you would just type the ' key followed by the e key (This is two keystrokes; you do not need to press them at the same time). The procedure is similar for other accented marks and letters; you may need the Windows CD-ROM or diskettes.

v     Click on the Start Menu, or press CTRL+ESC or the START MENU BUTTON to open the Start Menu.

v     Type S to open the “Settings” menu or select “Settings.”

v     Type C to open the Control Panel or double-click on “Control Panel”

v     Double-click on “Keyboard” or select “Keyboard” by typing K and open it by pressing RETURN.

v     Select the “Language” tab.

v     Press ALT+A or click “Add” to add a keyboard.

v     Select “Portuguese (Brazilian)” from the pull-down list.

v     When you are back at the “Language” tab, be sure that the box in the lower-left corner, labeled “Enable indicator on task,” is checked.

v     Click the “OK” button or press ENTER.

v     After installation you can just click on the language indicator, which will be in the lower-right hand corner of your task bar, to switch the keyboard mapping.