SE AI Image Resizer Documentation

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. Requirements
3. Installation
4. License Activation
5. Dashboard Overview
6. Scanning Your Site for Images
7. Resizing and Optimising Images
8. AI Smart Resize
9. AI Alt Text Generation
10. SEO Rename
11. Rename History and Reverting
12. Auto-Resize on Upload
13. Settings Reference
14. Managing Updates
15. Troubleshooting
16. Uninstalling

1. Introduction

SE Image Resizer is a Joomla 5 administration component and system plugin that gives you complete control over every image on your site. It scans your file system and database, resizes and compresses images in bulk, converts to modern formats like WebP and AVIF, and optionally uses AI to recommend quality settings, generate alt text and suggest SEO-friendly filenames. A companion system plugin automatically processes new uploads the moment they land on the server, regardless of which extension uploaded them.

The extension ships as a single installable package containing the administrator component (com_seimageresizer) and the system plugin (plg_system_seimageresizer).

2. Requirements

• Joomla 5.0 or later
• PHP 8.1 or later
• GD library (required) or Imagick (optional, recommended for better quality)
• WebP support in GD or Imagick (required for WebP conversion)
• AVIF support in GD or Imagick (optional, for AVIF conversion)
• cURL extension (required for AI features and license activation)
• An API key from Anthropic, OpenAI, Google or DeepSeek (optional, only needed for AI features)

3. Installation

1. Log in to your Joomla administrator panel.
2. Go to System → Install → Extensions.
3. Upload the package file pkg_seimageresizer.zip.
4. Joomla will install both the component and the system plugin automatically.
5. The system plugin is enabled by default. You can verify this under System → Manage → Plugins by searching for "SE Image Resizer".
6. Navigate to Components → SE Image Resizer to open the dashboard.

Important: Always create a full site backup (files and database) before using the bulk resize tools. Image resizing is destructive — original files are overwritten.

4. License Activation

SE Image Resizer uses an activate-once licensing model. Once activated, the extension works forever, even if your license later expires. License expiry only affects your ability to download future updates.

Activating from the Options Page

1. Go to Components → SE Image Resizer and click the Options button in the toolbar.
2. The first tab is License. You will see fields for the License Server URL (pre-filled with https://se24media.co.uk) and your License Key.
3. Enter your license key in the format SS-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX from your purchase confirmation email.
4. Click the Activate License button. The extension will contact the license server, validate your key, and activate. You do not need to save the Options page first — the activation button handles saving automatically.
5. A green success message confirms activation.

Activating from the Dashboard

If you have already saved your license key in Options, you can also activate directly from the dashboard by clicking the Activate License button in the red license status bar.

Checking Your License

Click Check License on the dashboard at any time to re-validate your license against the server. This is useful after renewing an expired license — it fetches the updated expiry date.

License Status Indicators

The dashboard displays a colour-coded license bar at the top:

• Green — License is active. Shows your masked key and expiry date.
• Amber — License has expired. The extension continues to work normally, but you cannot download updates until you renew.
• Red — License is not activated, or no key has been entered. Click Open Options to enter your key.

Download Key Syncing

When you activate or check your license, the extension automatically writes your license key into Joomla's Update Sites system. This means you do not need to manually enter a download key under System → Update → Update Sites — it is handled for you.

5. Dashboard Overview

The dashboard is your central control panel. From top to bottom, it displays:

License Status Bar — Shows your current license state with action buttons.

Backup Warning — A reminder to back up before using destructive operations.

Server Capabilities — Shows which image libraries and formats your server supports: GD, Imagick, WebP and AVIF. Green badges mean available, grey means unavailable.

Statistics Cards — Four cards showing total images scanned, total file size, number optimised and number of WebP copies created. These update after each scan or resize operation.

Detected Extensions — If you have SP Page Builder, VirtueMart, HikaShop, K2, Phoca Gallery, JCE or other supported extensions installed, they appear here as badges.

Scanner Controls — Buttons to scan your site, parse articles, scan extension folders and parse extension content.

Image Inventory Table — A sortable, filterable, paginated table listing every image found. Each row shows a thumbnail, filename, path, dimensions, file size, last modified date and optimisation status. Select images using the checkboxes to perform bulk actions.

Rename History — A collapsible section showing all SEO renames performed, with the ability to revert any rename.

6. Scanning Your Site for Images

SE Image Resizer offers four scanning modes to find every image on your site.

Scan Entire Site for Images

Click Scan Entire Site for Images to recursively scan the /images/ folder and all sub-folders. The scanner finds JPEG, PNG, GIF, WebP, AVIF, BMP and SVG files, reads their dimensions and file sizes, and stores the results in the database. A progress bar shows scanning progress.

Any folders listed in the Exclude Folders setting are skipped automatically.

Parse Article Images

Click Parse Article Images to search all published Joomla articles for <img> tags. This finds images referenced in article content that may live outside the /images/ folder or that you want to track for optimisation.

Scan Extension Folders

Click Scan Extension Folders to scan media directories used by third-party extensions — SP Page Builder assets, VirtueMart product images, HikaShop media, K2 media, Phoca Gallery images, JCE file manager uploads and any custom paths you have configured. Results are merged into the main image inventory without duplicates.

Parse Extension Content

Click Parse Extension Content to read extension database tables for image references. This parses SP Page Builder JSON content, VirtueMart media tables and HikaShop file tables, along with article images. This catches images referenced in product descriptions, page builder modules and other database-stored content.

7. Resizing and Optimising Images

1. Select one or more images in the inventory table using the checkboxes. Use the header checkbox to select all visible images.
2. Click Resize Selected to open the resize modal.
3. In the Manual Settings tab, configure:
   • Max Width and Max Height — Images larger than these dimensions are scaled down proportionally. Defaults are 1920×1080.
   • Quality — A slider from 30 to 100. Lower values produce smaller files with reduced detail. The default of 82 is a good balance for most photographs.
   • Output Format — Choose to keep the original format, convert to WebP, or create both the original and a WebP copy.
   • Maintain aspect ratio — Enabled by default. The image scales proportionally within the max dimensions.
   • Crop to exact dimensions — Crops the image to exactly match the specified width and height.
4. Click Resize Now to begin processing. A progress bar tracks each image. Results appear inline showing the old and new file sizes.

Images smaller than the specified dimensions are left untouched. The resize operation overwrites the original file — always work from a backup.

8. AI Smart Resize

If you have an AI provider configured (see Settings), the resize modal offers an AI Smart Resize tab as an alternative to manual settings.

In this mode, the AI analyses each image individually and recommends:

• Quality — Photographs with fine detail get higher quality (85–95). Graphics, screenshots and text-heavy images get tighter compression (60–75).
• Format — The AI recommends WebP where it saves the most bytes and keeps PNG when transparency is required.

You still control the maximum dimensions. You can also override the AI's format choice using the Output Format dropdown, or let it decide automatically.

To use AI Smart Resize, select your images, open the resize modal, switch to the AI Smart Resize tab and click Resize Now. Each image is sent to the AI for analysis before being processed.

9. AI Alt Text Generation

Missing or generic alt text hurts both accessibility and SEO. SE Image Resizer uses AI vision to examine images and write concise, descriptive alt text.

1. Select one or more images in the inventory table.
2. Click Generate Alt Text (AI) in the toolbar.
3. Each image is sent to your configured AI provider, which returns a descriptive alt text under 125 characters.
4. Results appear in the table. The generated alt text is stored and can be applied to articles and extension content.

This feature requires an AI provider with vision capabilities. Claude, GPT-4o and Gemini all support vision. DeepSeek does not currently support image analysis, so it will provide a generic response based on context.

10. SEO Rename

Filenames like IMG_20240301_142857.jpg or photo (1).jpeg hurt your SEO. The SEO Rename tool creates clean, keyword-rich filenames based on image content.

1. Select images in the inventory table.
2. Click SEO Rename in the toolbar.
3. If an AI provider is configured, the AI examines each image and suggests a descriptive filename (e.g. red-leather-handbag-front-view). Without AI, filenames are cleaned into URL-safe slugs.
4. The extension renames each file on disk and then automatically updates every reference across your database — article content, module content, category descriptions, SP Page Builder JSON, VirtueMart product descriptions, HikaShop content and more.

This is the safest way to rename images because it handles the database updates for you. No broken links.

11. Rename History and Reverting

Every SEO rename is logged in the Rename History section at the bottom of the dashboard. Each entry shows the original filename, new filename, number of database references updated and the date.

To revert a rename, click the Revert button on any history entry. The extension restores the original filename on disk and reverts all database references back to the original path. Reverted entries are marked as "Reverted" in the history.

Click Refresh to reload the rename history.

12. Auto-Resize on Upload

The system plugin (plg_system_seimageresizer) automatically resizes and optimises images the moment they are uploaded, regardless of which extension performs the upload. It uses a multi-strategy approach:

• Joomla Media Manager — Hooks into the core onMediaFileUploaded event.
• Article saves — Hooks into onContentAfterSave to process images embedded in article content.
• Third-party extensions — Snapshots monitored directories at the start of each request and diffs them at the end. Any new files are processed automatically. This catches uploads from SP Page Builder, VirtueMart, HikaShop, K2, Phoca Gallery, JCE and any other extension that writes to the file system.

The plugin uses the dimension, quality and format settings from the component configuration. To disable auto-resize, either set the Auto-Resize on Upload option to No in Settings, or disable the plugin under System → Manage → Plugins.

13. Settings Reference

Access settings via Components → SE Image Resizer → Settings in the submenu, or click the Settings view.

Maximum Dimensions

• Max Width — Maximum image width in pixels. Images wider than this are scaled down. Default: 1920.
• Max Height — Maximum image height in pixels. Images taller than this are scaled down. Default: 1080.

Quality and Compression

• JPEG Quality — Quality level for JPEG output, from 60 to 100. Default: 82.
• WebP Quality — Quality level for WebP output, from 30 to 100. Default: 80.
• Compression Level — General compression aggressiveness: Low (larger files, best quality), Medium (balanced) or High (smallest files, lower quality). Default: Medium.

Format Conversion and SEO

• Create WebP Copies — Automatically create a WebP version alongside the original when resizing. Default: Yes.
• Create AVIF Copies — Create AVIF versions if the server supports it (requires PHP 8.1+ with AVIF-capable GD or Imagick). Default: No.
• SEO-Friendly Rename — Rename files to URL-safe slugs during processing. Default: No.
• Auto-Generate Alt Text — Automatically add missing alt attributes derived from the filename. Default: No.

Automatic Processing

• Auto-Resize on Upload — Automatically resize and optimise images uploaded via any extension. Default: Yes.

Exclusions

• Exclude Folders — Comma-separated folder names to skip during scanning and auto-processing. For example: banners, favicons, logos. These folders inside /images/ and other monitored directories will be skipped.
• Custom Scan Paths — Additional directories relative to the site root to monitor for image uploads. Comma-separated. For example: templates/mytemplate/images, media/myextension/photos.

AI Integration

• AI Provider — Select which AI service to use: None (disabled), Anthropic Claude, OpenAI (GPT-4o), Google Gemini or DeepSeek.
• API Key — The field for your chosen provider's API key. Only the relevant key field is shown based on your provider selection.
• Model — Select which model to use. Smaller models are faster and cheaper. Available models depend on the provider:
  • Claude: Claude Sonnet 4, Claude Haiku 4.5
  • OpenAI: GPT-4o, GPT-4o Mini
  • Gemini: Gemini 2.0 Flash, Gemini 2.5 Pro
  • DeepSeek: DeepSeek Chat, DeepSeek Reasoner
• Generate Alt Text — Enable AI vision-based alt text generation. Default: Yes (when a provider is selected).
• Smart Quality Analysis — Enable AI-powered quality and format recommendations during resize. Default: Yes.
• SEO Filename Suggestions — Enable AI-suggested filenames based on image content during SEO rename. Default: No.

You can test your AI connection at any time using the Test Connection button on the Settings page. A successful test returns the model name confirming connectivity.

License (Options Page)

License settings are in the component Options page (click the Options button in the dashboard toolbar), not the Settings view:

• License Server URL — The URL of the SubSeller licensing server. Pre-filled with https://se24media.co.uk. Only change this if instructed to.
• License Key — Your license key in the format SS-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX from your purchase confirmation email.
• Activate/Check License — A button to activate your license or re-check its status without leaving the page.

14. Managing Updates

SE Image Resizer integrates with Joomla's built-in update system. When a new version is available:

1. Go to System → Update → Extensions.
2. Click Check for Updates.
3. If a new version of SE Image Resizer is available, it will appear in the list.
4. Click Update to install the new version.

Your license key is automatically sent as a download key when Joomla checks for and downloads updates. You do not need to enter anything manually in the Update Sites configuration — the extension handles this through the license activation process.

If your license has expired, Joomla will detect the available update but the download will fail. Renew your license at se24media.co.uk, then click Check License on the dashboard to refresh your credentials before trying the update again.

15. Troubleshooting

"License server could not be reached"

Check that your server allows outbound HTTP requests. Some hosting environments block external connections. Verify that cURL is installed and that your firewall or security plugin is not blocking requests to se24media.co.uk.

"Form could not load file" error on Options page

This means config.xml was not installed correctly. Reinstall the package. If the issue persists, verify that the file exists at administrator/components/com_seimageresizer/config.xml.

No update detected even though a new version exists

Joomla caches update site data. Go to System → Update → Update Sites, find the SE Image Resizer entry, and click Rebuild or delete and reinstall the extension. Also verify that the version number on the SubSeller server is higher than your installed version — if they match, Joomla reports no update available.

WebP conversion fails

Check the Server Capabilities section on the dashboard. If the WebP badge is red, your server's GD or Imagick installation does not support WebP. Contact your hosting provider to enable WebP support.

AVIF conversion fails

AVIF support requires PHP 8.1 or later with an AVIF-capable build of GD or Imagick. Most shared hosting environments do not yet support AVIF. Check the dashboard for the AVIF capability badge.

AI features return errors

Verify your API key is correct by using the Test Connection button in Settings. Check that your server allows outbound HTTPS requests to the provider's API endpoint. If using DeepSeek, note that it does not support vision — alt text generation and smart quality analysis will return generic responses.

Images not auto-resizing on upload

Ensure the system plugin is enabled: System → Manage → Plugins → System – SE Image Resizer. Also check that Auto-Resize on Upload is set to Yes in Settings. The plugin monitors the /images/ folder, extension-specific directories and any custom paths configured in the Exclusions settings.

Renamed images showing broken links

This should not happen because SE Image Resizer updates all database references automatically. If you do see broken links, the reference may be in a location the extension does not scan (for example, hard-coded in a template file or a custom module). Use the Rename History to revert the rename and fix the reference manually before renaming again.

16. Uninstalling

1. Go to System → Manage → Extensions.
2. Search for "SE Image Resizer".
3. Select the package (SE Image Resizer) and click Uninstall.

Uninstalling removes the component, the system plugin, all database tables (#__seimageresizer_scans and #__seimageresizer_renames), menu items and asset entries. Your image files are not affected — only the extension and its data are removed.

Support: support@se24media.co.uk Website: se24media.co.uk