In earlier posts, we saw how Object Export options can be used to specify Alt-text , and also specify custom image conversion settings for individual objects in the EPUB/HTML workflow. You can use Object Export Options to define apply PDF tags and add Actual Text to a PDF.
This is the ability to apply the PDF tag to the container (aka frame). The value of the tag for the container can be generated in different ways:
- For legacy InDesign files, it can be determined “from the Structure Pane”
- Some graphic elements on a page have no important meaning when be read aloud by a voice reader and should be tagged as “Artifact”.
- When set to “Based on Object”, InDesign will determine if the frame contains text or graphic content, and apply the appropriate tag “story” or “figure”.
In addition to alt text, PDF also supports Actual Text, which can be applied to graphic elements that visually look like text, but are in fact a graphic format. For example, a scanned TIFF image with text, or text converted to vector outlines. In these situations, Actual text should simply represent the characters and words that were “lost” in the process of converting to artwork. Actual text is ONLY relevant for tagged PDF.