Alt Text for Video

[michaelm19617145]

We are making an interactive PDF that contains a few video files with voice narration narrated (MP4s). We are trying to add alt text so that when a user hovers over their mouse over the video, they can read what is being said. I have tried adding the alt text using Object > Object Export Options and choosing "Custom" from the Alt Text Source drop-down menu. But when I export the PDF, all that shows when hovering your mouse over the file is a "Click to Activate..." tool tip. We want to get rid of that and show the alt text instead. We have a separate button that controls playback of the video. Thanks.

[Michael Bullo]

This is not a fix but a work-around. Could you put this text inside something nicely formatted and have that something revealed by clicking on a button or a mouseover?

[Derek Cross]

PDF is not the format to use for videos, instead look at FXL ePub, InDesign‘s Publish Online, link to an external source, such as YouTube or consider using In5: Export HTML5 from InDesign with in5 - Home

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

If you are dealing with accessibility, that can't work. You need to add closed captions for video.

[michaelm19617145]

Yes, it is because of accessibility and I believe you are correct in that we have to add closed captions instead. I am looking into that now. I noticed that there are several controllers that can be used to play the video that have a "Closed Captions" button. Would you happen to know where these captions are coming from? Are they added in InDesign or when we create the video?

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

They can be permanently "burned" into the video, so they are visible all the time. If your controller has a CC button, they usually need to be uploaded to the video server as an separate "sidecar" file that can be uploaded. You can also embed them into the output file, but that may not play properly on computers (vs. broadcast playback).

See this link:

Learn to work with captions in Premiere Pro

You will need to test the sidecar file and the embed options under the same conditions as a viewer. When in doubt, burn them in if you want complete assurance they are visible when needed.

[michaelm19617145]

Thanks. I've been reading about creating closed captions using Premiere Pro but it seems one of our problems is that we are using Premiere Pro CS6 and it does not appear to have those closed captioning features that the CC versions have. I was thinking would another option be maybe to just manually type out the spoken words as Titles and have them just always show? These are very short videos so this would not be too difficult.

[BobLevine]

What version of InDesign are you using?

[michaelm19617145]

CS6.

[BobLevine]

You are now six versions out of date.

[BobLevine]

And…video in a PDF is nothing but crapshoot at this point. Highly unlikely to work on any mobile device or any PDF reader beyond Acrobat or Reader on a desktop.

I’d rethink the whole thing unless you have full control over distribution.

[michaelm19617145]

Ha ha didn't realize we were that far behind! The vision was to have a printable document (i.e., PDF) that had a few interactive properties when viewed online, such as voice narration that would read some text and a few small videos, etc. But yes, I think we might have to rethink the whole thing. Would you recommend maybe some of the alternatives that Derek above mentioned such as FXL ePub, or InDesign‘s Publish Online? Or maybe something else?

[BobLevine]

The best choice for interactive export is in5 from www.ajarproductions.com<http://www.ajarproductions.com>.

As for PDF, I wrote this three years ago. Even more applicable today: https://www.boblevine.us/its-okay-to-say-no-to-interactive-pdf/

[Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com]

michaelm19617145  wrote

Would you recommend maybe some of the alternatives that Derek above mentioned such as FXL ePub, or InDesign‘s Publish Online? Or maybe something else?

If you're concerned about accessibility (which requires the Alt-text and closed captioning you mentioned in the original post), then no. None of those formats are fully accessible.

EPUB still has too many proprietary features that fail many screen readers and other assistive technologies. Very dicey. You have to tweak the EPUB for each type/brand of EPUB reader. Publish Online doesn't have any accessibility. (One of my firm's corporate partners is testing various technologies for her PhD in accessible documents and is coming up short on alternative formats that actually work.)

Most accessible formats are HTML, PDF, and native Word.

[Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com]

Yes, it's closed captioning that should go on the video clip, and then the vldeo is embedded into the PDF. No Alt-text is needed on the clip. (FYI, the guidelines recommend 300 characters max for Alt-text, so there is no way you'd be able to caption a video in just 300 characters.)

We do not recommend "burning" captions into the video because that method is not fully accessible to all assistive technologies (AT). Remember, accessibility must meet the needs of all people, regardless of their disability and AT.

To learn more about CC, visit the Media Access Group at the WGBH website (yes, public TV's Boston station developed the concept and provides excellent information about the process): http://main.wgbh.org/wgbh/pages/mag/services/captioning/faq/

You can create your own captioning and many software programs are available. You also can contract it out to qualified vendors. Our shop recommends 3PlayMedia at https://www.3playmedia.com/ 

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

Thank you, Bevi--good point. I was limiting my thinking to the delivery medium. Best to pick a different format as Bob is suggesting.

[Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com]

Bob and David (Ideas) are correct: your software is very out of date, and embedding a video into a PDF is dicey. It may or may not play on the user's device.

Another option:

Place the first frame of the video as a graphic into the layout, hyperlink it to an external website (YouTube if you want it public, Vimeo, BrightCove, or your own website if you want it private), and add Alt-Text to the graphic that states "Screen capture of the ABC video."

And have the closed captioning on the video, wherever it is posted.

Yes, you can have live text scroll with the video instead of closed captioning, but the downside is that it should be synched to the video frames. That requires professional captioning software or a competent contractor.