View source for Principle of least astonishment

The '''principle of least astonishment''' ('''POLA''') (alternatively "principle/law/rule of least astonishment/surprise") applies to user interface and software design, from the ergonomics standpoint.

A typical formulation of the principle is: "If a necessary feature has a high astonishment factor, it may be necessary to redesign the feature."

In general engineering design contexts, the principle can be taken to mean that a component of a system should behave in a manner consistent with how users of that component are likely to expect it to behave; that is, users should not be astonished at the way it behaves.

== See also ==

* [[DWIM]] (Do What I Mean)
* [[Convention over configuration]]
* [[Human interface guidelines]]
* [[List of software development philosophies]]
* [[Look and feel]]
* [[Occam's razor]]
* [[WYSIWYG]]

== External links ==

* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principle_of_least_astonishment Principle of least astonishment]


[[Category:Software design]]