Evaluating the Impact of Combining Automated Accessibility Tools on WCAG Violation Coverage and Developer Debugging Efficiency
2026 (English)Independent thesis Basic level (degree of Bachelor), 10 credits / 15 HE credits
Student thesis
Abstract [en]
A study was conducted to investigate whether combining existing automated accessibility toolsand structuring their output into a clear and readable format could increase the coverage of detectedWCAG violations, as well as improve developers’ ability to resolve identified accessibility issues.To achieve this, a test library was developed by combining the existing tools Axe, Pa11y, and Aceand by transforming their combined JSON output into a structured PDF format. The result includeddescriptions of detected issues, as well as information regarding their location in the codebase andsuggested guidance for remediation. The developed test library was then evaluated in collaborationwith an ERP company, where it was applied to two web extensions. The generated PDF reports weresubsequently used by the developers to correct issues in one of the extensions.From the analysis of the two generated reports, an increased coverage of detected issues was ob-served. After the developers at the company used the generated PDF reports to resolve identified issues,no remaining accessibility issues were detected in the tested extension. In addition, interviews wereconducted with the three developers who had worked with the results. The interviews indicated thatthe testing library substantially improved the debugging process for WCAG-related issues by provid-ing clear issue descriptions, guidance for remediation, and precise location information within the codebase. At the same time, opportunities for improvement were identified, particularly regarding reportnavigation, reduction of redundant information, and the handling of manual accessibility checks.For further feedback on the developed test library, additional complementary interviews wereconducted with students. During these interviews, 13 students were presented with different issuedescriptions, where half of the issues showed the raw JSON output and the other half displayed theformatted PDF output. The results indicated that the majority of students preferred the formatteddescriptions due to improved readability and clarity.From these findings, it was concluded that the combination of existing automated accessibilitytools and the structuring of their output into a readable and navigable format improved both the de-tection coverage of WCAG issues and the efficiency of developer debugging workflows.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2026.
Keywords [en]
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, WCAG, WCAG-testing, Debugging Efficiency, Test cov- erage, Automated Accessibility Testing, Tool Integration
National Category
Software Engineering Computer Sciences
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:hj:diva-73338OAI: oai:DiVA.org:hj-73338DiVA, id: diva2:2086206
Subject / course
JTH, Computer Engineering
Supervisors
Examiners
2026-08-172026-07-132026-08-17Bibliographically approved