manifest / media / image-alt-text-auditor

Image Alt Text Auditor

WordPress plugin that audits your media library for images missing alt text and lets you fix them inline from a dedicated admin page.

by Jacqui Dyachenko · github.com/jdyach/image-alt-text-auditor · website

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Install

No release zip yet. The repository archive installs, but the folder name will carry the branch suffix and updates will not flow:

wp plugin install https://github.com/jdyach/image-alt-text-auditor/archive/refs/heads/main.zip

Readme github.com/jdyach/image-alt-text-auditor ↗

A WordPress plugin that audits your media library for images missing alt text and lets you fix them inline, without leaving the admin.

Features

Dashboard widget — shows a count of images missing alt text at a glance; links directly to the audit page
Dedicated admin page under Media → Alt Text Audit
Inline editing — type alt text and save it without leaving the audit list
Keyboard support — press Enter in any alt text field to save
Pagination — handles large media libraries cleanly (20 per page)
Auto-removes rows on save with a fade animation, so the list updates live
All-clear state — friendly confirmation message when the audit is clean

Installation

Upload the image-alt-text-auditor folder to /wp-content/plugins/
Activate the plugin through Plugins → Installed Plugins
Navigate to Media → Alt Text Audit to run your first audit

How It Works

The plugin uses WP_Query with a meta_query to find all attachment posts of type image where the _wp_attachment_image_alt meta key is either missing or set to an empty string.

Saving alt text uses a nonce-protected AJAX handler that calls update_post_meta() with the standard _wp_attachment_image_alt key — the same key WordPress itself uses in the media library editor.

WordPress Concepts Demonstrated

Concept	Where Used
`WP_Query` with `meta_query`	`class-iata-query.php`
Admin menu registration (`add_media_page`)	`class-iata-admin.php`
Asset enqueueing with `wp_localize_script`	`class-iata-admin.php`
Dashboard widget API	`class-iata-dashboard-widget.php`
Nonce-protected AJAX (`wp_ajax_*`)	`class-iata-ajax.php`
Capability checks (`current_user_can`)	Both admin classes
`update_post_meta` / `_wp_attachment_image_alt`	`class-iata-ajax.php`
Internationalization (`__()`, `_n()`, `esc_html_e`)	Throughout
`paginate_links()`	`class-iata-admin.php`

File Structure

image-alt-text-auditor/
├── image-alt-text-auditor.php       # Plugin bootstrap, constants, includes
├── README.md
├── assets/
│   ├── css/
│   │   └── admin.css                # Admin page + dashboard widget styles
│   └── js/
│       └── admin.js                 # Inline save via AJAX, Enter-key support
└── includes/
    ├── class-iata-query.php         # WP_Query abstraction for missing-alt lookups
    ├── class-iata-admin.php         # Menu page, asset enqueue, audit table render
    ├── class-iata-dashboard-widget.php  # Dashboard widget count + link
    └── class-iata-ajax.php          # AJAX handler for saving alt text

Requirements

WordPress 6.0+
PHP 8.0+

License

GPL-2.0-or-later — see GNU GPL v2