Assigning Long Descriptions to Images in FrameMaker
This section explains how to create accessible images in your generated output by assigning long descriptions to images.
Image Long Descriptions in FrameMaker
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines and Section 508 guidelines require you to include long descriptions for each image in an HTML document. You can use the longdesc attribute and a long descriptions stored in an external .txt file to assign a long description to an image. When you use this approach, the long descriptions are referenced in the HTML <img> tag in the longdesc attribute as shown in the following example:
<img src="mission.gif" height="240" width="386" alt="The Mission" longdesc="mission.txt" />
The longdesc attribute in the <img> tag provides a link to a separate page where a long description is available. The link is invisible to sighted users, but when a conformant screen reader application reads the longdesc attribute, it loads the file referenced in the longdesc attribute and reads it. In the previous example, the screen reader would load and read the mission.txt file.
ePublisher provides the following options for assigning long descriptions to images:
If you assign long descriptions to some, but not all of you images, you can use the ImageLongDescNotReq marker. Use this marker when you use accessibility reports to verify that all images have long description but you have certain images in your source document that do not require a long description. For more information, see Excluding Images from Accessibility Report Checks in FrameMaker.
Although using the longdesc attribute is recommended in the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines and in 508 guidelines, older screen readers and many current browsers do not support this attribute and few online content developers use this attribute. As a result, the longdesc attributed benefits a only a small number of users. Only users who use modern screen readers can access the longdesc attribute easily. Older screen readers did not support this attribute. In addition, even users who use the latest version of screen reader may be unfamiliar with the longdesc attribute and may not know how to access long descriptions using their screen reader because the longdesc attribute is used so infrequently in online content.
If you use the ImageLongDescText marker to assign long descriptions to images, as an interim solution ePublisher allows you to display a D link immediately after the image. The D link is an upper case letter D link that directs users to another page that contains the text you specified in the ImageLongDescText marker. Although a D link is not required for accessible Web pages, it can be used in addition to the longdesc attribute. The D link technique works in all browsers, but it is less elegant than using the londesc attribute. Some users may be confused when they see a D link on the page, while other users will ignore the D link.
If you want to use D links in addition to the longdesc attribute when you generate output, your Stationery must have the D link option enabled. If you have permissions to modify target settings in ePublisher Express, you can enable the D link option setting in an ePublisher Express project. For more information about enabling the D link option in an ePublisher project, see Specifying Accessibility Settings. For more information about permissions required to modify target settings using ePublisher Express, see Working with Target Settings.
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:
    1. On the Graphics menu, click Tools to display the graphic tools palette.
    2. Click the Text Frame icon.
    3. Drag the cursor over the portion of the image where you want to insert the text frame that will contain the ImageLongDescText marker.
    4. In the Create New Text Frame window, in the Number field, type 1, and then click Set.
    5. Click outside the image, and then insert your cursor in the text frame.
    6. On the Special menu, click Marker.
    7. In the Marker Type field, select ImageLongDescText from the drop-down list.
    8. 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.
    9. In the Marker Text field, type the long description you want to assign to the image. Your description cannot exceed 255 characters.
    10. Click New Marker.
  3. If you are using Adobe FrameMaker 7.0, complete the following steps:
    1. Select the anchored frame that contains the image to which you want to assign a long description using an external file.
    2. On the Graphics menu, click Object Properties.
    3. Click Object Attributes.
    4. In the New or Changed Attribute area, in the Name field, type ImageLongDescText.
    5. In the Definition field, type the long description you want to assign to the image. Your description cannot exceed 255 characters.
    6. Click Add.
    7. Click Set.
    8. 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:
    1. On the View menu, click Output Directory.
    2. 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.
    3. In the <TargetName> 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, and ImageName is the name of the image to which you assigned a long description.
    4. 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.
Using Text in External Files to Assign Long Descriptions to Images in FrameMaker
Assign long descriptions to images using external files when you have image descriptions that exceed 255 characters or if you want to use image descriptions in external text files to assign long descriptions to images.
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.
The steps you use to assign long descriptions to image varies based on the version of Adobe FrameMaker you use. If you use Adobe FrameMaker 6.0, you use the ImageLongDescByRef marker. If you use Adobe FrameMaker 7.0 or later, you use an object attribute you create for the anchored frame to assign a long description to an image.
To assign a long description to an image using an external file in an Adobe FrameMaker source document
  1. Create a .txt file that contains each image long description.
  2. Place each image long description text file in a folder in the <ProjectName>\Formats\<TargetName>\Files folder for your project, where ProjectName is the name of your ePublisher project and TargetName is the name of your target.
    For example, place the each image long description in the following location:
    <ProjectName>\Formats\<TargetName>\Files\<longdescriptions>\<imagelongdescription>.txt
    where ProjectName is the name of your ePublisher project, TargetName is the name of your target, longdescriptions is the name of the folder where you placed the image long description, and imagelongdescription is the name of the .txt file that contains the image long description.
  3. In your Adobe FrameMaker source document, locate the anchored frame for the image to which you want to assign a long description.
  4. Complete the following steps:
    1. Select the anchored frame that contains the image to which you want to assign a long description using an external file.
    2. On the Graphics menu, click Object Properties.
    3. Click Object Attributes.
    4. In the New or Changed Attribute area, in the Name field, type ImageLongDescByRef.
    5. In the Definition field, type the path to the .txt file that contains the long description you want to assign to the image.
      For example, type:
      ./<longdescriptions>/<imagelongdescription>.txt
      where longdescriptions is the name of the folder where you placed the image long description, and imagelongdescription is the name of the .txt file that contains the image long description.
    6. Click Add.
    7. Click Set.
    8. Click Set again to close the window.
  5. Save your Adobe FrameMaker source document.
  6. Generate output for your project. For more information, see Generating Output.
  7. In Output Explorer, verify ePublisher assigned the long description to the image using the long description in the external file when it generated output by completing the following steps:
    1. On the View menu, click Output Directory.
    2. In the <TargetName> folder, open the page that contains the image to which you assigned the long description using an external file in Notepad and verify that the longdesc attribute references the external text file that contains the long description for the image, where TargetName is the name of your target.
Excluding Images from Accessibility Report Checks in FrameMaker
In some instances, alternate text is sufficient for an image, and assigning a long description to an image in addition to alternate text would be redundant. However, you may have configured Accessibility reports to check for images without long descriptions and notify you when an image does not have a long description.
In this scenario, while you want an Accessibility report to notify you when you have an image without a long description, you do not want to be notified when you deliberately did not assign a long description to an image because assigning a both a long description and alternative text would be redundant. To address this issue, you can use the ImageLongDescNotReq marker to exclude an image that deliberately does not have a long description from validation when you generate Accessibility reports. For more information about Accessibility reports and configuring and generating Accessibility reports, see Accessibility Reports, Configuring Reports, and Generating Reports.
To exclude images without long descriptions from Accessibility reports, your Stationery and template must have the ImageLongDescNotReq marker type configured. Your output format must also support this feature.
The following procedure provides an example of how to exclude images without long descriptions from Accessibility report checks in Adobe FrameMaker source documents using unstructured Adobe FrameMaker 7.2. Steps for excluding images without long descriptions from Accessibility report checks in Adobe FrameMaker may be different in other versions of Adobe FrameMaker.
To exclude an image without a long description from Accessibility report checks in an Adobe FrameMaker source document
  1. In your Adobe FrameMaker source document, locate the anchored frame for the image without a long description that you want to exclude from an Accessibility report check.
  2. On the Graphics menu, click Tools to display the graphic tools palette.
  3. Click the Text Frame icon.
  4. Drag the cursor over the portion of the image where you want to insert the text frame that will contain the ImageLongDescNotReq marker.
  5. In the Create New Text Frame window, in the Number field, type 1, and then click Set.
  6. Click outside the image, and then insert your cursor in the text frame.
  7. On the Special menu, click Marker.
  8. In the Marker Type field, select ImageLongDescNotReq from the drop-down list.
  9. If the ImageLongDescNotReq 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.
  10. In the Marker Text field, do not enter any text. You do not need to enter any text in this field when you insert a ImageLongDescNotReq marker.
  11. Save your Adobe FrameMaker source document.
  12. Generate output for your project. For more information, see Generating Output.
  13. Generate an Accessibility report and confirm that ePublisher did not generate an Image is missing a long description message for the image. For more information about generating Accessibility reports and Accessibility report messages, see Generating Reports and Accessibility Report Messages.
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Last modified date: 01/28/2026