pattern
Progressive disclosure
Showing the few options most people need and keeping the rest one deliberate step away, so complexity arrives only when it is asked for.
Progressive disclosure is an arrangement, not a component. It is the decision about what goes on the first screen and what waits behind “Advanced options”, “Show more”, or a second step. The demo here shows the smallest version of it, but the same idea covers wizards, settings pages that start with a summary, and editors that reveal their toolbars as you use them.
The rule of thumb is frequency, not importance. The first layer holds what most people need most of the time; the second holds what a few people need occasionally. Getting this backwards produces forms where everyone opens the extra section every time, which is worse than never having hidden it.
What makes it work is that the second layer is visible as a promise. A control labelled “Advanced options” tells you the settings exist and where they are. Hiding options with no trace of them is not disclosure, it is just absence. An accordion is one mechanism for the reveal, not the pattern itself.
Which word?
| If you want | say |
|---|---|
| keeping advanced options one click away instead of on screen | progressive disclosure |
| a stack of sections, each opening in place | accordion |
| one control hiding one region | disclosure |
| the label falls away once you have used it enough | progressive reduction |
Related
See also: Cognitive load