Editor · 1 min

TYPO3 images without alt text: found, described, saved after review

Product photos without alt text leave screen-reader users with a file name, and a second language doubles the work. In TYPO3 that means opening each image's metadata, looking at the photo and typing a description, once per language. With TYPO3 MCP your AI assistant finds the gaps, describes each photo and saves the text once you have read it.

The prompts

  • Which images on our Mustermann Outdoor site have no alt text yet?
    Reads only; changes nothing
  • Look at the four product photos and suggest alt text for each, in English and German. Don't save anything yet.
    Drafts only; you review them in the chat
  • Good. Call the city bike "City E-Bike C-3" and the tent by the lake "Ridge 2 tent", in both languages. Then save all four, English and German.
    Writes after your review; no batch ID

What does the assistant do?

  1. Ask which images have no alt text. On our demo the assistant lists five Mustermann Outdoor files: four product photos and a favicon.
  2. Ask for suggestions only. The assistant opens each photo and drafts alt text in English and German; nothing is saved yet.
  3. Review in the chat. Add what the photo cannot show, here the product names City E-Bike C-3 and Ridge 2.
  4. Ask it to save. It looks up the German language ID and writes eight alt texts with AI Accessibility's MCP tool.
  5. Check the file metadata in the backend and the image on the English and German page.

Shown in Claude; other MCP assistants work too.

How do I check it and put it back?

Open the file in the backend: the English row and the German row each hold their alt text. The tool returns no batch ID, so records_undo cannot take it back. Ask the assistant to note the old values before it writes, then write them back if you change your mind. On our demo we did exactly that afterwards.

What do I need?

AI Foundation with its MCP server switched on, an MCP-capable assistant that can look at images, and AI Accessibility for the alt text tools; AI Foundation is free, AI Accessibility is licensed.

What can the assistant not do for you?

  • The alt text tool returns no batch ID: records_undo cannot take it back, so ask the assistant to note the old value before it writes.
  • A photo shows what it shows: the assistant cannot tell that a city bike is the C-3 e-bike. Product names come from you.
  • Alt text is stored per language: a German row is needed for German alt text, otherwise the German page shows the English text.
  • To describe a photo, your assistant opens its public address and sends the image to its vendor, as with any chat.

Questions about this episode

What does this video show?

Three requests in Claude on our demo install: which Mustermann Outdoor images have no alt text, suggestions for the four product photos in English and German, and saving them after one review, with the product names added. Then the file metadata in the TYPO3 backend, English and German, and the City E-Bike C-3 page on the website in both languages.

How does the assistant see the photos?

The AI Accessibility tool returns the public address of each image. The assistant opens that address with its own web tool and describes what it sees, so the image goes to the assistant's vendor, as with any chat.

Why did the review add product names?

A photo shows a city bike, not that it is the City E-Bike C-3. Names, models and prices come from you; the assistant describes what is visible.

In this video
Transcript of the video
  1. 0:00MCP in Practice for TYPO3 · Episode 15: TYPO3 images without alt text: found, described, saved after review
  2. 0:02First request: which images on Mustermann Outdoor have no alt text?
  3. 0:04Five files in the site's folder. Nothing is changed.
  4. 0:05Second request: look at the four product photos and suggest alt text, English and German.
  5. 0:07Claude opens each photo and drafts both languages. Nothing is saved yet.
  6. 0:09Third request, after review: add the product names, then save all four.
  7. 0:11Eight writes confirmed, English and German.
  8. 0:12The C-3 photo now carries its product name.
  9. 0:14Now check it in TYPO3.
  10. 0:15File metadata of city-e-bike-c-3.jpg: the alt text is saved.
  11. 0:28The German metadata row holds its own German alt text.
  12. 0:40On the website, the English C-3 page carries the new alt text.
  13. 0:45The German page carries the German one.
  14. 0:50Find, describe and save, after your review, instead of opening each image's metadata by hand.
  15. 0:52All episodes: t3planet.de/en/blog/typo3-mcp-in-practice/

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