Stefana Dobrea Undergraduate Dissertation 2017/18

Automated Bug-Fixing of Website Layouts

Supervised by P.McMinn

Abstract

Over the past few years Responsive Web Design has become an essential approach for building websites. Developers are encouraged to create flexible layouts that can be correctly displayed on any type of device regardless of their screen size. As every element on the page needs to adapt its position or size when the viewport is modified, layout problems such as overlaid elements can occur.

The Automated Bug-Fixing of Website Layouts program provides a way of resolving issues related to the layout of websites. It is based on the Galen Framework which provides an easier way to writing tests. The program uses the Galen Framework by taking the reported problems and trying to solve them. It analyses the failing tests and assigns new values to the misbehaving elements.

Given a Galen test for a certain website, the Automated Bug-Fixing program is able to resolve any issues related to element size, margins, position relative to other elements, display properties and CSS properties such as text size and fonts.