Assigning Alternate Text (Summaries) to Tables in FrameMaker
Tables, just like images, are a way to visually display information. Although tables typically contain text, the purpose of the table is often not evident from text alone. The organization and display of the table may contain information that is not evident to assistive technologies. However, through the use of table summaries, assistive technologies can convey useful information to users about tables. The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines recommend that you provide summary text for each table in an HTML document. Table alternate text, or table summaries, provide users with information about what type of information the table contains.
You can create accessible tables by typing the table summary into a TableSummary marker. When ePublisher generates content, ePublisher puts the table summary you specify into the table in the
summary attribute. To assign alternate text to tables, your Stationery and template must have the TableSummary marker type configured. Your output format must also support this feature.
The following procedure provides an example of how to assign alternate text to tables in Adobe FrameMaker source documents using unstructured Adobe FrameMaker 7.2. Steps for assigning alternate text to tables in Adobe FrameMaker may be different in other versions of Adobe FrameMaker.
To assign table summaries in an Adobe FrameMaker source document
1. In your Adobe FrameMaker source document, locate the table to which you want to assign a table summary.
2. Insert your cursor in front of the table.
3. On the Special menu, click Marker.
4. In the Marker Type field, select TableSummary from the drop-down list.
5. If the TableSummary 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.
6. In the Marker Text field, type the table summary you want to assign to the table.
7. Click New Marker.
8. Save your Adobe FrameMaker source document.
9. Generate output for your project. For more information, see Generating Output.
10. Verify ePublisher assigned the table summary you specified to the table when it generated output by completing the following steps:
a. On the View menu, click Output Directory.
b. In the TargetName folder, open the page that has the table to which you assigned a table summary in Notepad, where TargetName is the name of your target.
c. Verify that the table summary you specified is included in the
summary attribute for the table.Last modified date: 06/11/2024