Automatic Usability Evaluation

Some tools have been developed that automate the process (or some of the process) of evaluating a product's usability. Here is a sample of methods:

• AccessEnable: A Tool for Evaluating Compliance with Accessibility Standards
  Tom Brinck, Derren Hermann, Brian Minnebo, and Ali Hakim
• The Bloodhound Project: Automating Discovery of Web Usability Issues using the InfoScent Simulator
  Ed H. Chi et al.
• Website Automatic Usability Testing EnviRonment (wauter)
• Using Category Membership Statistics

Items for discussion

• Range of methods currently available
• How do these methods fit into the design process?
• Do these methods involve user modeling?