---
name: Progressive disclosure
slug: progressive-disclosure
category: pattern
status: published
created: 2026-08-21T00:00:00.000Z
modified: 2026-08-21T00:00:00.000Z
definition: Showing the few options most people need and keeping the rest one
  deliberate step away, so complexity arrives only when it is asked for.
aliases: []
tags:
  - perception
relations:
  contrastWith:
    - accordion
    - disclosure
    - progressive-reduction
  variantOf: []
  partOf: []
  seeAlso:
    - cognitive-load
implementations: []
sources:
  - title: "Nielsen Norman Group: Progressive disclosure"
    url: https://www.nngroup.com/articles/progressive-disclosure/
demo: inline
exhibit: false
useWhen: keeping advanced options one click away instead of on screen
---

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](/accordion) is one mechanism for the reveal, not the pattern itself.