ScanMeSite
Automating Web Accessibility Audits
The Problem
During my role as a Business Analyst, a key responsibility was ensuring the accessibility of my company's websites through weekly Lighthouse reports. While this was essential, it was a time-consuming manual process. I identified a broader market need to automate this task, especially with accessibility regulations becoming more prominent across the US, Canada, and the EU.
Key Features
Automated Accessibility Scans
Python script running headless Chrome with Puppeteer to perform comprehensive accessibility audits automatically.
User-Friendly Interface
React-based dashboard providing clear and intuitive interface for users to run scans and view accessibility results.
Scalable Backend
Flask-powered backend with MongoDB and Redis databases to handle user data and scan history for multiple users effectively.
Technology Stack
Challenges & Solutions
Performance Bottlenecks on Free Hosting
A major hurdle was the limitations of the free hosting plan, where intensive tasks like website scans would block other backend processes. This made the application unresponsive during a scan and prevented a seamless user experience.
Asynchronous Processing
I addressed this by architecting the backend to handle scans asynchronously. This ensured that the scan could run as a separate background process, freeing up the main server to continue handling user requests and other backend tasks.
Results
Successful Production Launch
ScanMeSite was successfully brought to market as a fully functional production application, showcasing my ability to execute a complex project from ideation to launch with extreme efficiency. The product was built in just three weeks, demonstrating my proficiency in rapid development, full-stack implementation, and addressing a real-world market need with a working solution.
This project stands as a testament to my ability to not only identify a problem but to build a scalable, production-ready solution under an aggressive timeline.
Impact & Reflection
ScanMeSite validated the market need for automated accessibility auditing tools as compliance regulations become increasingly important. The project demonstrated my ability to identify a business process pain point and transform it into a scalable technical solution.
This experience reinforced the importance of asynchronous architecture for resource-intensive tasks and taught valuable lessons about optimizing performance within hosting constraints. The rapid three-week development cycle showcased efficient full-stack development capabilities.