README

Automate WordPress accessibility with the power of AI. Instantly generate "answer engine" and SEO-friendly alt text, titles, and image descriptions directly in the Media Library using Google's latest Gemini Flash model. A free API key is available here.

Project Architect & Engineer: Andrew Hickman

🚀 Overview

Fourth Coast Web brings the power of Google's Gemini AI directly into your WordPress dashboard. Stop wasting precious time writing descriptive alternative text, titles, and descriptions for every image. With a single click, the plugin analyzes your uploaded image and automatically populates the Alt Text, Title, and Description fields, ensuring your site is accessible (WCAG compliant) and optimized for search as well as answer engines.

image-meta-generator-plugin-demo.mp4

✨ Features

⚡ Instant Generation: Uses the gemini-flash-latest model for fast, accurate image analysis.
🖼️ Native Integration: Seamlessly extends the default WordPress Media Library modal. No navigating away to separate settings pages for daily use.
🧠 Context-Aware: Includes a "Keywords" field, allowing you to guide the AI (e.g., "sunset", "product shot", "marketing") for more relevant descriptions.
🔒 Secure: Your API key is stored securely using WordPress best practices and never exposed to the frontend.
♿ Accessibility First: Generates concise alt text for screen readers and detailed visual descriptions for better context.

🛠️ Installation & Configuration

Prerequisites

WordPress 6.0 or higher.
PHP 7.4 or higher.
A Google Gemini API Key (Google provides a generous free tier, no credit card needed. Get an API key here).

Setup Steps

Option A: Traditional Installation

Download & Install:
- Upload the Image-Alt-Generator folder to your /wp-content/plugins/ directory.
- Activate the plugin through the 'Plugins' menu in the WordPress admin.

Option B: Composer Installation (Bedrock/Roots)

Add the repository to your composer.json:

"repositories": [
  {
    "type": "vcs",
    "url": "https://github.com/FourthCoastWeb/Image-Alt-Generator"
  }
]

Require the plugin:

composer require fourthcoastweb/image-alt-generator

Configuration

Configure API Key:
- Navigate to Tools > Media Metadata Generator in your WordPress admin dashboard.
- Paste your Google Gemini API Key into the field.
- Click Test Connection to verify your key works.
- Click Save Changes.

📖 How to Use

Open the Media Library (or click "Add Media" while editing a post).
Select an image to view its details.
Locate the new Image Metadata Generator section in the sidebar.
(Optional) Enter any Keywords to help the AI understand specific details (e.g., brand names, specific locations), and select which output fields those keywords should appear in.
Click Generate Alt, Title, and Description.
Wait a moment for the AI to analyze the image. The Alternative Text, Title, and Description fields will automatically populate.

🏗️ Architecture

Fourth Coast Web's Media Metadata Generator is built with modern WordPress development standards:

Backend: PHP 7.4+ with strict typing and Namespacing (Media_Meta_Generator).
Frontend: Extends the wp.media.view (Backbone.js) to inject UI elements natively into the media modal.
Security: Implements robust nonce verification for AJAX requests and sanitizes all inputs.

🤝 Contributing

We welcome contributions! Please read our CONTRIBUTING.md for details on our code of conduct, and the process for submitting pull requests.

Fork the repository.
Create your feature branch (git checkout -b feature/AwesomeFeature).
Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add some AwesomeFeature').
Push to the branch (git push origin feature/AwesomeFeature).
Open a Pull Request.

🛡️ Security

If you discover a security vulnerability within this project, please consult SECURITY.md for our disclosure policy.

📄 License

Distributed under the MIT License. See LICENSE for more information.

Principal Engineer: Andrew Hickman
Author: Fourth Coast Web

fourthcoastweb / image-alt-generator

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