Design for Effective Support of User Intentions in Information-Rich Interactions
http://baywood.metapress.com/link.asp?target=contribution&id=W00456648Q485137
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  peer-reviewed

Albers, Michael J.
Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
2009

Abstract:

With the rise of Web pages providing interactive support for problem-solving or providing large amounts of information on which a person is expected to act, designers and writers need to consider how a person interacts with increasingly complex information-rich environments and how they intend to use the information. This article examines some of the theory underlying why people make errors early in the problem-solving process when they form an intention. Since these errors are cognitively-based and occur before any physical action, it is harder to analyze their cause or incorporate changes to reduce them in a design. It examines factors which contribute to user errors and which designers and writers must consider to produce documents which reduce user errors in forming intentions.