e-Tip #99 - May 2010 - Text-Only Version

<> Keith Vincent:  Speaker IDs: Easy as Q&A

Depositions make up most of my reporting, so the steno for Q&A is something I think I could write in my sleep. For arbitrations and hearings, I’m expected to NOT use Q&A symbols. Instead, it’s all colloquy because there are so many speakers to whom a witness might be answering. 

Fortunately, Eclipse makes it easy to handle pure colloquy. In the “Translate” section of Eclipse user settings, put a check next to “Convert ANSWER to...”  Then move to the box that probably reads “THE WITNESS” and change it to reflect the name of the current witness, for example, “MR. SMITH”.

If you make that small change, you’ll be able to use your easy “Answer” stroke each time the witness speaks. Since it’s an answer that follows a Speaker paragraph, Eclipse will convert the “A” symbol to a speaker paragraph for that witness. Much easier than writing SPH*EUT SPH*EUT every time “MR. SMITH” says something. 

You can also use easy question strokes to show who is examining in a colloquy-only format. Just use “Insert missing BY lines” and tweak your question paragraph so that it behaves as colloquy.  Here’s what I mean:   
	
I’ll start Eclipse with my normal user settings.  I then open the User Settings and use the “Save Settings” button.  I want to have some settings saved that I would use for my all-colloquy format, so I name these new settings “Keith Hearings.INI”. 

Once you have an all-colloquy format available, you can adjust its settings by following these steps:

1) In the “Translate” section of user settings, put a check in the box next to “Insert missing BY lines.” 

2) In the “Edit” section of user settings, use the “‘By’ formats” button to edit the By-line formats. The Speaker+Question template will be {C and the paragraph format will be “Speaker”. Put a check in the box next to “Question text on same line.”  

3) In the “Paragraphs” section of user settings, select “Question”. Then use the “Advanced” button and drop down the list of choices next to “Behaves as”. Select “Colloquy”. (Thus, “Convert ANSWER to” will think your Answer stroke is always in the context of colloquy.)

Now for an example. Ms. Todd begins her questioning of Mr. Smith, whose name I had put in the box next to “Convert ANSWER to...”

Here’s what I write:
TOD TOD (to identify examiner) 
Question stroke:  Hello
Answer stroke:  Hello.
SUT SUT (for Mr. Sutton):  Objection
Question stroke:  How are you today?
Answer stroke:  Just fine.  Thanks.

Here’s how Eclipse translates it for me:
MS. TODD:  Hello.
MR. SMITH:  Hello.
MR. SUTTON:  Objection.
MS. TODD:  How are you today?
MR. SMITH:  Just fine.  Thanks.
What if Mr. Sutton starts examining?  I write SUT SUT (indicating a new person for the “Insert missing by-lines” feature), and then I settle into Q&A strokes.	

One last thing. Don’t forget to change the name next to “Convert ANSWER to...” when a new witness begins to testify.

<> Wil Wilcox:  Dark Courier & Windows 7

The default font for Total Eclipse transcripts is Courier New.  It’s generally found on all Windows computers, and it emulates the Courier font that was so popular on IBM Selectric typewriters.  However, it’s not a very dark font.  Dark Courier is NOT a bold version of Courier New, but it is easier to read.  

To install Dark Courier on Windows 7, I recommend downloading from eaglefonts.com.  At the Eaglefonts web site, just type “Dark Courier” in the search field and you will be taken to the download page. There you will find instructions to download and install your font.

Be sure to download and install Dark Courier, Dark Courier Bold, Dark Courier Bold Italic, and Dark Courier Italic.  

Of course, there are other web sites that offer the Dark Courier font.  It’s just that some of them will charge a fee.  You may also find different versions of Dark Courier. 

Using Dark Courier within Total Eclipse

Let’s say you’ve installed the Dark Courier font on your Total Eclipse computer(s).  Eclipse won’t use it automatically, but it’s easy to take advantage of it.

Go to the “Document” section of User Settings.  The “Main font” button will open a dialogue where you can scroll through the list of fonts that are on your computer.  Select “Dark Courier” and press Enter.  Now your new documents will use “Dark Courier” instead of “Courier New.”  

What about documents that you have already created,  such as  block  files?   It’s not too late to start using “Dark Courier” for these files, too.  For instance, you would open your cover page file, go to the “Document” section of user settings, and use the “Main font” button to select “Dark Courier.”  Once you make that change, Total Eclipse will remember that this is the font you want to use for the text in this block file.

If you decide to use Dark Courier, don’t forget to install it on each of your computers.  Otherwise, Eclipse would want to use a font that is simply not available.  In that case, Windows would substitute a very common font like “Arial.”  After all, Courier and Dark Courier are monospaced or fixed-width fonts, meaning each character takes the same amount of space whether it be the skinny “i” or the husky “W”.  In contrast, Arial is a proportional font and thus your text would not appear to fill each the way you expect.

For your convenience, Keith’s website contains a link to the Dark Courier page of eaglefonts.com.  That link is listed next to e-Tip #99 on the e-Tips page of KVincent.com.