1 Supporting users tasks with Personal Information Management and Web forms augmentation Marco Winckler 1 , Sergio Firmenich 2,3 , Vincent Gaits 2 , Silvia Gordillo 2,4 , Gustavo Rossi 2,3 1 IRIT, Université Paul Sabatier, France winckler@irit.fr 2 LIFIA, Facultad de Informática, 3 Universidad Nacional de La Plata and Conicet Argentina 4 CiCPBA {sergio.firmenich, vgaits, gordillo, gustavo}@lifia.info.unlp.edu.ar Abstract. Currently, most tasks performed by Web users require them to provide information. It is usual that several Web applications require similar information and users have to repeat the same information many times. However, Web forms are only the “top of the iceberg” of these problems users experience. First, Web forms have an intrinsic complexity such as users comprehension of Web forms input, data format for being used in Web forms input, etc. On the other hand, there are a lot of situations in which Web forms are not necessarily a problem for users but the problem resides in the information needed by Web forms. Repeating the same tasks – with the same information – in several Web sites, or using information from a Web site to fill forms in another one, are problems that users usually have to face with. In this work we analyze user’s interactions with Web forms and propose an approach for enhancing Web forms using client-side adaptation techniques. As the use of Web forms is closely related to the management of personal information our approach includes the support for date exchange between user’s personal information management systems (PIMS) and third-party Web forms. The approach is illustrated by a set of client-side adaptation tools and a pervasive Personal Information Management Systems called PIMI. 1. Introduction For many Web applications, forms are essential components that allow users to provide data and interact with the system. Despite the fact that forms can be very effective for gathering information, the tasks users engage when filling in forms can be complex: at first, users must to understand how to fill in the forms; users should also be able to recall information that should be entered into fields; only then they can start to fill in the forms; it is worth noting that quite often users need to record data used in forms in their personal information management systems (PIMS) for later use. If these users’ tasks are not supported properly they might raise several usability problems. For example, users can make mistakes if they don’t understand labels or if they do not know how to enter data in the expect data format [3]. Users can also left fields blank if mandatory fields are not clearly indicated. Recalling information is cognitively demanding [14] and particularly painful if users should recall the information provided to every Web form. Whilst typing in form fields, users can introduce typos. Filling in Web forms can also be tedious and repetitive [5]; this is