Theodor Holm Nelson
Top 10 Ways to Lose Your Intranet Users
The Cranky User: The Principle of Least Astonishment
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Throughout the history of engineering, one usability principle seems to me to have risen high above all others. It's called the Principle of Least Astonishment -- the assertion that the most usable system is the one that least often leaves users astonished. Web pages violate this rule constantly, flagrantly, and in ways that produce a great deal of the ill-will that Web designers sometimes face. Web pages astonish users by hiding buttons, providing buttons that don't work, and redefining the basic visual cues that are supposed to allow users to navigate a page. When users are astonished they usually assume that they have made a mistake; they are unlikely to realize that the page has astonished them. They are more likely to feel that they are at fault for not anticipating the page. Don't take advantage of this; making users feel stupid is not endearing. (2001-09-02)
The link address is: http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/web/library/us-cranky10.html
