Creating Alphabets in CATalyst
In short, you use the format symbol {Glue} (shortcut F4, g)
In the text for the alphabet letter definition, press F4, then g to include the Glue Format
Symbol, then the letter of the alphabet. Add punctuation either before or after the letter
depending on the placement you want (see examples below). For no punctuation, just
omit punctuation from the definition. Make sure not to put in any spaces. Repeat this
process for each letter of the alphabet.
To create spell outs with no punctuation, define each letter as {Glue}(letter). For
example, to write AOEURBGS/PW-RBGS/PH-RBGS and have the letters appear as
IBM, define:
AOEURBGS as F4gI (appearing as {Glue}I)
PW-RGBS as F4gB ({Glue}B)
PH-RBGS as F4gM ({Glue}M)
When the steno is written, it will translate as IBM.
For finger spelling with lower case, do the same as above but define with lower case
letters.
To have punctuation appear between each letter but not after the last letter, define as
{Glue}(punctuation)(letter). For instance, to define hyphenated letters for spell outs, as
R-O-B, using X* as the steno, define:
R* as F4g hyphen R ({Glue}-R)
O* as F4g hyphen O ({Glue}-O)
PW* as F4g hyphen B ({Glue}-B).
When the steno /R*/O*/PW* is written, it will translate as R-O-B.
To have punctuation appear after each letter, including the last letter, define as
{Glue}(letter)(punctuation). For instance, to define spell outs for initials, as J.R.R. (as
in J.R.R. Tolkien), define the letters as follows:
SKWR-FPLT as F4g J period ({Glue}J.)
R-FPLT as F4g R period ({Glue}R.)
When the steno SKWR-FPLT/R-FPLT/R-FPLT is written, it will translate as J.R.R. Even
though it’s a period, you don’t have to specify Uncap Next; it automatically won’t cap the
next word. (Ex. “P.J. told me to…” -- It won’t translate as “P.J. Told me to”)
One other little thing, from the CATalyst instructions: “The Glue format symbol must be
defined with a character and must be the first character in the definition.”