#13940
Cognitive Strain as a Factor in Effective Document Design 
People have a limited amount of cognitive resources. Coping with the increasing amount of information presented via a software interface strains a user’s cognitive resources. If a person has to use documentation, whether on-line or paper, additional cognitive resources are consumed, often overloading the user. Using several windows or multi-media elements can compound the problem. Unfortunately, as Wickens (1992) states, humans are unable to manage excessive cognitive strain and they respond by getting frustrated, committing errors, shedding tasks, or reverting to known methods.
Albers, Michael J. ACM SIGDOC (1997). Presentations>User Centered Design>Usability>Cognitive Psychology
#13942
Decision Making: A Missing Facet of Effective Documentation
The old school of software interface design and document writing took the view that if the user could find the information someplace, the user could use it. But simply sticking in details ignores how readers access and process information.
Albers, Michael J. ACM SIGDOC (1996). Presentations>Documentation>Management
#19253
Design Considerations for Complex Problem-Solving 
Information design must go beyond help for simple lookups or providing simple instructions; it must assist in solving complex, real-world problems. This paper helps develop a foundation for design which supports approaches to the complex problem-solving which people use in real-world situations. It considers the dynamic situational context of information, the aspects of the information, and the data interrelationships which the requirements analysis must uncover to support the fundamental user wants and needs.
Albers, Michael J. STC Proceedings (2002). Design>Information Design>User Centered Design
#27653
Designing and Writing to Reduce User Errors
A vast majority of documents (I consider print and online as documentation) often works to define the optimized error-free method of performing a task and provides a user with a straightforward solution. However, the user expects documentation to help solve problems and address errors. Thus, attention must be paid to potential problems users can have and how to correct them. Errors have different causes; the information designer should understand the potential types of errors since properly addressing each type requires a different approach in the design and documentation.
Albers, Michael J. WritersUA (2004). Articles>Writing>Technical Writing>Usability
#23642
Designing and Writing to Reduce User Errors
A vast majority of documents (I consider print and online as documentation) often works to define the optimized error-free method of performing a task and provides a user with a straightforward solution. However, the user expects documentation to help solve problems and address errors. Thus, attention must be paid to potential problems users can have and how to correct them. Errors have different causes; the information designer should understand the potential types of errors since properly addressing each type requires a different approach in the design and documentation.
Albers, Michael J. STC Proceedings (2003). Articles>Documentation>Writing>Technical Writing
#13939
Information Design Considerations for Improving Situation Awareness in Complex Problem-Solving
The conventional techniques for task analysis derive the basic tasks that make up user actions. However, in the complex-problem solving environment, attempts to describe step-by-step actions break down because no single route to a solution exists. Although individual tasks can be defined, task-analysis normally results in the tasks being divorced from context. However, to support complex problem-solving, the design must place the information within the situation context and allow users to develop and maintain situation awareness.
Albers, Michael J. ACM SIGDOC (1999). Presentations>User Centered Design>Usability
#13536
If the experts are on the mark, very soon handheld computer technology—--also known as the personal digital assistants (PDA)—--will supplant the desktop computer as ubiquitous technology on campuses and in the workplace (Weiser 1998; Chen 1999). In 1998, Gaston Bastien, vice president and general manager for the Personal Interactive Electronics Division of Apple Computer, noted that the handheld computer market 'could potentially grow larger than today's computer industry,' partly because of the capability of dynamic, modular design, and partly because its utility spills over to diverse communities of users. In 2001, Gartner Research (Bloomberg News 2001) predicted a 260% increase in unit sales, from 9.39 million units in 2000, to 33.7 million units in 2004.
Albers, Michael J. and Loel Kim. Technical Communication Online (2002). Design>Information Design>Web Design>User Interface
#13272
Information Design for Web Sites Which Support Complex Decision Making
Most web site designs tend to focus on optimizing for simple information retrieval, “Find the value of X.” Yet, in decision making, the user’s information needs are much greater. As a minimum, they must understand and compare the value of X with respect to Y. Of course, in a realistic situation, several values must be considered. The information design problems involved in effectively addressing complex decision making has not been adequately researched. This research examines web sites to determine which design factors support complex decision making. It also develops guidelines for designing web sites which support complex decision making.
Albers, Michael J. STC Proceedings (2000). Presentations>Information Design>Web Design
#10398
Information Design: A Bibliography
This bibliography consists of two parts, an annotated list of 17 essential works on information design chosen by members of the InfoDesign e-mail list, and a longer, unannotated, classified bibliography of additional works.
Albers, Michael J. and Beth Conney Lisberg. Technical Communication Online (2000). Resources>Bibliographies>Information Design
#10394
Information Design: An Introduction to This Special Section
This article defines information design as being closely related to Kolstenick and Roberts's construct of extra-textual and supra-textual levels, which discuss how the page looks and how text appears on the page, without worrying about the text itself. It includes the white space, the rules, the font choices, use of special typefaces, the placement and ordering of data, and so forth. The actual text sits below this level and is not a part of information design. The author also summarizes the content of this special section's two commentaries, three articles, and bibliography.
Albers, Michael J. Technical Communication Online (2000). Design>Information Design
#14641
Integrating Graphics with Text
A teacher at the University of Memphis, Albers describes a two-tiered assignment he developed to help students address problems they encounter when trying to integrate text and graphics.
Albers, Michael J. Intercom (2000). Articles>Rhetoric>Graphic Design>Visual Rhetoric
#14351
The Key for Effective Documentation: Answer the User’'s Real Question
To successfully communicate to users, documentation must do more than meet the user’s information needs, it must present the information in the same way the user processes the information. The design of sofhYare and its accompanying documentation must be reconceived so that the design is done porn the problem-solver’s pornt of view. Effectively designing documentation requires the writer to: start with the user, answer the user’s rest questions, optimize all documentation as a smgle umt, allowfor user mistakes, and consider how you present the information.
Albers, Michael J. STC Proceedings (1997). Presentations>Documentation>Help
#26400
The Key for Effective Documentation: Answer the User's Real Question
To successfully communicate to users, documentation must do more than meet the user’s information needs, it must present the information in the same way the user processes the information. The design of software and it accompanying documentation must be reconceived so that the design is done from the problem-solver’s point of view.
Albers, Michael J. Usability Interface (2005). Articles>Documentation>Usability
#19521
Looking into the Future: The Role of the Technical Communicator in On-Line Report Design
Corporations are rapidly moving vast quantities of information onto intranets. In order for that information to be usable by corporate decision makers the format of traditional reports needs to change. Corporate reports must reflect information needs and not just provide a dump of available data. Their design must change from static dumps of information to an on-line highly adaptable format that connects relevant information into an integrated whole. Part of making the change means careful audience and task analysis to determine what reader¡¯s information needs. Technical communicators are uniquely skilled to handle this phase of on-line report design.
Albers, Michael J. STC Proceedings (1998). Articles>Writing>Reports>Online
#29098
Multidimensional Audience Analysis for Dynamic Information
As technical communication gains the technology to deliver dynamic custom documents, the importance of audience analysis increases. As a major factor in supporting dynamic adjustment of document content, the audience analysis must clearly capture the range of user goals and information needs in a flexible manner. Replacing a linear audience analysis model with a multidimensional model provides one method of achieving that flexibility. With a minimum of three separate dimensions to capture topic knowledge, detail required, and user cognitive ability, this model provides the writer a means of connecting content with information requirements and ensuring the dynamic document fits varying audience needs.
Albers, Michael J. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2003). Articles>Web Design>Audience Analysis>Personalization
#19811
Single Sourcing and the Technical Communication Career Path
Considers how most technical writing uses a craftsman model and evaluates the applicability of that model to single sourcing. Proposes a technical communication career path with distinct job responsibilities for junior and senior writers.
Albers, Michael J. Technical Communication Online (2003). Careers>Content Management>Single Sourcing
#13835
The Technical Editor and Document Databases: What the Future May Hold
Technical editors ensure a document communicates with the reader. With XML, active server pages, and dynamic document creation, Web pages are no longer simple hand-crafted text objects, but dynamic groupings of text assembled moments before the reader views the page. With dynamic documents, high-level editing tasks will be, at best, vaguely defined during text creation. To maximize the information content, future technical editors require tighter control over information consistency and content.
Albers, Michael J. Technical Communication Quarterly (2000). Articles>Editing>Single Sourcing>Technical Editing
#34991
Design for Effective Support of User Intentions in Information-Rich Interactions
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.
Albers, Michael J. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2009). Articles>User Centered Design>Interaction Design>Cognitive Psychology
