Text frames are the areas in the InDesign document where you place text. To create a text frame, choose the text tool from the Tools palette, then drag a rectangle shape in the document. You can move or resize the text frame as necessary.
Text frames in InDesign will create accessible text areas in documents when exported to other formats, such as PDF, EPUB, HTML, etc. Even though they look similar to text boxes in Word, which are not ideally accessible, the text frames in InDesign work very well to create accessible text.
Use Threaded Text Frames for Continuous Content Between Frames
- To thread text frames together, first, make sure you actually have two text frames available. To create two text frames, take a moment to ensure the text tool is selected from the left menu.
- Then click with the mouse on the document and drag to create a rectangle. Release the mouse when you achieve the desired shape and size. You can adjust later, if necessary. Repeat this step until you create all the text frames you need.
- Once you have the text frames, either type or paste in the text. You don’t have to add all the text now. You can edit it later. Then click on the small red plus icon near the lower right corner of the first frame.
This will change the mouse cursor so that it shows a snippet of text alongside the pointer.
- Click inside the second frame to release the snippet of text and link the two frames together.
The text from the first frame will now continue to the second frame, uninterrupted. If necessary, repeat this process on all the frames that are part of the same text flow.
The end result is that screen reader users will be able to read the text, uninterrupted.
