Specifying Long Descriptions for Images in FrameMaker
To assign a long description to an image, your Stationery and template must have the ImageLongDescText marker type configured. Your output format must also support this feature.
When you use the ImageLongDescText marker to assign long descriptions to images, ePublisher generates an external text file that contains the long description you specify. When a conformant screen reader application reads the generated page, it loads the .txt file referenced in the longdesc attribute on the page and reads the file.
You can use the ImageLongDescText marker to assign long descriptions to images if your image descriptions do not exceed 255 characters. If your image long descriptions are longer than 255 characters, you must use an external .txt file and the ImageLongDescByRef marker to assign long descriptions to images, because Adobe FrameMaker limits the length of marker text to 255 characters. For more information, see Using Text in External Files to Assign Long Descriptions to Images in FrameMaker.
In addition, Adobe FrameMaker ignores carriage returns in marker text when generating MIF files. As result, if you use ImageLongDescText markers, each long description will be generated as a single paragraph.
The steps you use to assign long descriptions to images varies based on the version of Adobe FrameMaker you use. If you use Adobe FrameMaker 6.0, you use the ImageLongDescText marker. If you use Adobe FrameMaker 7.0 or later, you can use either the ImageLongDescText marker or an object attribute you create for the anchored frame to assign a long description to an image. For more information about long descriptions and D links, see Specifying Long Descriptions for Images in FrameMaker.
To assign a long description to an image using marker text in an Adobe FrameMaker source document
1. In your Adobe FrameMaker source document, locate the anchored frame for the image to which you want to assign a long description.
2. If you are using Adobe FrameMaker 6.0, complete the following steps:
a. On the Graphics menu, click Tools to display the graphic tools palette.
b. Click the Text Frame icon.
c. Drag the cursor over the portion of the image where you want to insert the text frame that will contain the ImageLongDescText marker.
d. In the Create New Text Frame window, in the Number field, type 1, and then click Set.
e. Click outside the image, and then insert your cursor in the text frame.
f. On the Special menu, click Marker.
g. In the Marker Type field, select ImageLongDescText from the drop-down list.
h. If the ImageLongDescText marker type is not on the list, check with the Stationery designer to obtain the name of the marker type the Stationery designer created to support this functionality and then use the marker type specified by the Stationery designer. For more information, refer to Implementing Online Features in FrameMaker.
i. In the Marker Text field, type the long description you want to assign to the image. Your description cannot exceed 255 characters.
j. Click New Marker.
3. If you are using Adobe FrameMaker 7.0, complete the following steps:
a. Select the anchored frame that contains the image to which you want to assign a long description using an external file.
b. On the Graphics menu, click Object Properties.
c. Click Object Attributes.
d. In the New or Changed Attribute area, in the Name field, type ImageLongDescText.
e. In the Definition field, type the long description you want to assign to the image. Your description cannot exceed 255 characters.
f. Click Add.
g. Click Set.
h. Click Set again to close the window.
4. Save your Adobe FrameMaker source document.
5. Generate output for your project. For more information, see Generating Output.
6. Verify ePublisher assigned the long description to the image by completing the following steps:
a. On the View menu, click Output Directory.
b. In the TargetName\images folder, verify that ePublisher created a .txt file that contains the long description you specified in the ImageLongDescText marker, where TargetName is the name of your target.
For example, if you specified a long description for ImageName.png, verify that ePublisher created an ImageName.txt file in the images folder, where ImageName is the name of the image to which you assigned a long description.
c. In the TargetName\ProjectName folder, open the page that contains the image to which you assigned the long description in Notepad and verify that the longdesc attribute references the ImageName.txt file ePublisher created for the image, where TargetName is the name of your target, ProjectName is the name of your project, and ImageName is the name of the image to which you assigned a long description.
d. If you used the ImageLongDescText marker and the Stationery designer configured your Stationery to support D links, open the page in a browser, verify that the D link displays in the browser, and then click the D link and verify that a page opens that displays the long description that you specified in the ImageLongDescText marker.
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Last modified date: 11/30/2021