Principle of Least Astonishment
The principle of least astonishment (POLA) is usually known as (“The principle of least surprise”). It is an essential aspect when designing a user interface and software. It states that “If a necessary feature has a high astonishment factor, it may be necessary to redesign the feature.”
The key concept is always to do the least surprising thing.
In other definition, the system should behave that most users will expect it. But, that doesn’t mean it requires you to imitate the same interface or user experience by the other software. Of course, You have an option either to copy it or to improve it.
To give you a better understanding. Assume you’re assigned to build a word processing software application. With that, you should recognize people are used to Microsoft Word and expect to create a new file by selecting the File menu then New Blank Document from the submenu. It makes sense to follow this design. But, you can disregard it if you have an efficient and more reasonable way to create new documents in your application.
Next is code related example.
In the above example, the intention is to update a user account. However, Thinking that you want to be unique and use the overhaul word as an alternative to the updated word is not ideal. Because for some developers, this could surprise them or confuse them. Instead of that, use simple or commonly used words by most developers.
In a nutshell, the Law of least astonishment is often used to the obvious thing that happens to the human-computer interaction (HCI). The design should match the users’ past experiences, expectations, and mental models. If that scenario or solution or anything else commonly known by the users. Adopt it. But still, The principle can ignore if you have a better approach.
Author: Marc Kenneth Lomio | Full Stack Software Engineer | BlastAsia, Inc.
References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principle_of_least_astonishment
https://uxplanet.org/the-principle-of-least-astonishment-bc3f67991510
https://kidscodecs.com/principle-of-least-astonishment/
https://usertimes.io/2018/12/07/the-principle-of-least-astonishment/
http://principles-wiki.net/principles:principle_of_least_surprise
