AI Alt Text Builder – Alt Text Generator for Image SEO & Accessibility

Changelog

1.0.24

• Accessibility: on the institutional plan, the plan panel header now wraps, so the settings screen no longer scrolls sideways in a 320 px wide window (WCAG 1.4.10 Reflow).
• Own API key mode: the settings screen now says what Pro adds: it reads text inside images, writes in your language, and works in bulk and automatically on upload.

1.0.23

• New: activity log (AI Alt Text Builder > Activity log). It records who generated alt text, when, for which image and from which IP address, every bulk job and every image in it, and changes to the plugin settings (never the keys themselves). When the plugin replaces existing alt text, the entry keeps the previous text, so it can be put back. It can also record WordPress sign-ins, sign-outs and failed sign-ins. Entries stay in your own database, are kept for 365 days by default and can be exported as CSV.
• New: before a bulk job replaces existing alt text, the plugin asks for confirmation, saying how many of the selected images already have alt text and that the job uses tokens.
• New: institutional site keys. A key that starts with rpedu_ connects to that institution’s own RankPilotAI API at edu-<institution>.rankpilotai.com instead of rankpilotai.com, and the settings screen shows the plan as Institutional. An institutional plan counts images, so every quality tier uses one image of the plan, and saving an institutional key removes any free trial token and OpenAI key stored on the site. Other site keys, the free trial and your own OpenAI key work as before.
• Fix: a site key that fails its check when you save it no longer removes the key that was already saved.
• Fix: an unreadable answer from the RankPilotAI service no longer stops the settings screen with a critical error.
• Fix: the “Buy Tokens” links in the bulk notices pointed to your own site instead of rankpilotai.com.
• Accessibility: every field on the settings screen now has a label for screen readers, and its hint is linked to it. The quality tiers are grouped under their name, decorative icons are hidden from screen readers, the comparison table has row headers and says “Included” or “Not included” for screen readers, and the language names are marked with their language.
• Accessibility: text in the plugin’s screens meets at least 4.5:1 contrast (disabled controls excepted), including the success and error messages and the selected quality tier; form field borders and check marks meet at least 3:1. Locked Pro cards are no longer faded.
• Accessibility: keyboard focus is always visible, including on the quality tier cards, and stays on a button while it works (Generate, Start free trial, Save key); “Activating…” and “Saving…” are read out by screen readers. In the grid, focus moves to Stop when a bulk job starts and, when it ends, back to the button (or to the result line if nothing is left to generate), and Stop no longer loses focus on each progress update. The list view’s bulk result is read out by screen readers.
• Accessibility: the settings screen fits a 320 px wide window; the comparison table and the activity log table scroll inside their own box.
• Improved: the Custom directives field states its 1,500-character limit and stops there.
• Tested with axe-core 4.10.2 (WCAG 2.0, 2.1 and 2.2 A and AA rules) on all of the plugin’s screens, in each settings mode and after a generation, during and after bulk jobs and after errors, with no violations from the plugin; also with the keyboard alone and at 320 px width.

1.0.22

• Compatibility: the plugin now states PHP 8.0 as its minimum version, which its code has needed since 1.0.16. On PHP 7.4, WordPress now shows a clear “requires PHP 8.0” message instead of the plugin failing to load.

1.0.21

• Improved: bulk generation now goes image by image, three at a time, in the Media Library grid and list view, so the counter moves with every image (“1 / 3”, “2 / 3”) instead of jumping from 0 to the end.
• Improved: in the list view, Apply on “Generate with AI Alt Text Builder” starts at once with a progress bar and a Stop button, without reloading the page. Each row’s Alt Text label changes as its text arrives.
• Improved: when a bulk job ends, the images that got alt text are deselected (unticked in the list), so the button cannot be pressed for them again by mistake. Images that failed, or were not reached because of Stop, stay selected for another try.
• Improved: the list view’s alt text filter now uses the states of the Alt Text column: Missing, Too short, Good and Too long. It lists images only (a PDF or a video has no alt text) and has a label for screen readers.
• Fix: the Alternative Text box grows with its text. On WordPress 7, the last line of a typical alt text was cut off.

1.0.20

• Fix: in the Media Library grid, bulk generation could lose the new alt text of the last image you selected: when you left Bulk select, WordPress saved that image’s old, empty field back over it. Every generated alt text now stays.
• Fix: Stop now stops bulk generation, in the list view and in the grid. Before, a Stop pressed while images were being processed (or, in the grid, right after clicking Generate) was lost and the job ran to the end, using tokens for every selected image. Now only the images already in progress are finished.
• Fix: moving to another image while one image’s alt text was being generated, followed by a failed generation, removed that image’s previous alt text. It now stays.
• Improved: the bulk result line is the same in the grid and the list view, with the right singular or plural (“1 alt text saved.”).

1.0.19

• Fix: in the Media Library grid, the result line next to “Generate alt text (N)” (for example “2 alt texts saved, 0 failed”) now lines up vertically with the toolbar buttons.

1.0.18

• New: the Generate button now also appears in the “Attachment details” window, which opens when you click an image in the Media Library grid or pick one in the editor’s media window. Before, it was only on the separate attachment edit screen.
• New: a “Generate alt text (N)” button in the Media Library grid view. Click Bulk select, pick images and generate alt text for all of them, with a progress bar and a Stop button. Before, bulk generation was only reachable from the list view’s Bulk actions menu.
• Improved: the Generate control now uses the standard WordPress button style. Clicking it clears the field and shows “Generating…” until the new alt text arrives; once an image has alt text, the button reads “Regenerate”. If generation fails, the previous text is put back.
• Improved: the “100 / 100” score is replaced by a clear label (Missing, Too short, Good, Too long) and a character count, in the field and in the Media Library column (now named “Alt Text”).
• Improved: a calmer settings screen in the WordPress admin style. The model cards now show the quality tiers (Economical, Balanced, Premium) with their token cost, the screen says which AI service generates the text, and Pro users no longer see the mode comparison table.
• Security: the site key is masked on the settings screen; “Change site key” opens an empty field instead of showing the current key.
• Accessibility: progress and result messages are announced to screen readers, and the settings screen buttons use the WordPress admin button styles with a visible keyboard focus.
• Security: generating alt text, for one image or in bulk, now also checks that the user may edit that specific image.
• Improved: the list view’s bulk progress now shows a progress bar, “Generating alt text for N images…” and a Stop button, and ends with one clear result message instead of “processed 0/0 – success 0, failed 0”.
• Fix: stopping a bulk job from the list view no longer stays on “cancelling…”.

1.0.17

• Fix: when the RankPilotAI API answered with a structured error object (for example {"error":{"message":"..."}}) instead of a plain string, generating ALT text ended in a server error and the real reason never reached you. The message inside the object is now shown. This extends the 1.0.16 trial fix to the Site Key path.
• Maintenance: replaced the deprecated jQuery.trim() (removed in jQuery 4) in the ALT score badge with the native String.prototype.trim(). The score is calculated exactly as before.
• Compatibility: verified on WordPress 7.1.3 with PHP 8.5. The official Plugin Check reports zero errors, and the Media Library (list and grid), the attachment and post editors and the settings screen load without a single PHP notice or deprecation.

1.0.16

• Fix: removed a PHP warning (“Undefined array key”) that the plugin raised every time WordPress built the attachment fields, which is on every media modal open. WordPress does not define an html key for the alternative text field, and the plugin appended to it without checking. On sites that display PHP notices, the warning could leak into the media modal response.
• Hardening: if the trial API returns a structured error object instead of a string, the request no longer ends in a fatal error; the message is shown to you instead.
• Maintenance: the plugin now passes the official WordPress Plugin Check with zero errors. This covers output escaping, translator comments on every placeholder string, wp_parse_url(), and prepared uninstall queries. Where a check does not apply, the exemption is documented inline with its reason rather than left silent.
• Compatibility: verified on a real WordPress 7.1 install, including the Media Library list table, the media modal and the post editor.

1.0.15

• NEW: the Alt Score column in the Media Library is now sortable, as the description has always claimed. Empty ALT text sorts as 0, matching the badge.
• Fix: the “Generate with AI” button inside the media modal no longer appears without the script that powers it. The button used to render on any screen that opens the modal, while its JavaScript only loaded on the Media Library and attachment screens, so clicking it did nothing.
• Fix: files the vision models cannot read (SVG, HEIC, AVIF and similar) are now rejected up front with a clear message instead of consuming a token on a request that was going to fail. WordPress 7.1 lets the browser convert and generate files before upload, so the Media Library can hold more formats than before.
• Hardening: request values are unslashed before sanitizing, and the uninstall cleanup query is now prepared with esc_like().
• Compatibility: tested with WordPress 7.1.

1.0.14

• Maintenance: added the missing “Plugin URI” header and translated remaining inline code comments to English.
• Compatibility: re-verified with WordPress 7.0.

1.0.13

• Maintenance: routine housekeeping, minor code cleanup and performance tuning. No functional changes.
• Compatibility: re-verified with WordPress 7.0.

1.0.12

• Maintenance: minor polish, code cleanup and stability improvements. No functional changes.
• Compatibility: re-verified with WordPress 7.0.

1.0.11

• Maintenance: internal code cleanup and stability improvements. No functional changes.
• Compatibility: re-verified with WordPress 7.0.

1.0.10

• Compatibility: tested up to WordPress 7.0.
• Maintenance: minor housekeeping and copy cleanup. No functional changes.

1.0.9

• NEW: Three-mode system – Trial (25 free tokens), BYOK (your own OpenAI key), Pro (RankPilotAI).
• NEW: Plugin works immediately after install with zero-friction free trial.
• NEW: BYOK mode – unlimited single image generations using your own OpenAI API key.
• NEW: Auto-generate alt text on image upload (Pro feature).
• NEW: Redesigned settings page with mode selection, feature comparison table, and Pro feature indicators.
• Bulk generation and auto-generate are now Pro-only features.
• Score badge and column hidden in BYOK mode.
• Language and model selection locked to English/Mini in Trial and BYOK modes.

1.0.8

• Updated default AI model from GPT-4o-mini to GPT-4.1 Mini for improved quality and performance.
• Backward compatibility maintained — existing GPT-4o-mini selections are automatically migrated.

1.0.7

• UI: Redesigned settings page with modern card-based layout, gradient header, improved navigation and responsive design.
• UI: Settings header now displays the official AI Alt Text Builder logo.
• UI: Modernized admin CSS for generate button and score badges.

1.0.6

• Maintenance: minor version consistency updates and small documentation/copy cleanup. No functional changes.

1.0.5

• Maintenance: minor version consistency updates and small documentation/copy cleanup. No functional changes.

1.0.4

• Tested up to WordPress 6.9.

1.0.3

• New installs start with an empty Site Key field instead of a random generated key.

1.0.2

• Tweak: removed extra “View details” link on the Plugins screen and synced short description. No functional changes.

1.0.1

• Tweak: Updated short description and plugin listing copy. No functional changes.

1.0.0

• Initial public release: one-click ALT generation + “Alt Score” badge.
• Normalized usage overview: Remaining = Plan Limit − Global Usage (matches RankPilotAI account dashboard).
• Language selector and prompt improvements.
• New settings UI, bulk actions polish and sortable “Alt Score” column.
• Stability and compatibility tweaks on admin screens.