Progressive Disclosure - The Software Vs. Web Design Environment

The Software Vs. Web Design Environment

Historically, progressive disclosure is a concept that came from the software usability experience. It is clearly easier to apply to software than it is on websites. In software (including in web applications), the interaction is between dialogues and 'fixed state' interactions. On websites, interactions are chaotic, randomized and dynamic because hypertext is a non-linear media.

In the software world the audience is predictable and targeted, making learning styles more predictable. On a website, it's anybody's guess who might be using the site. The website visitor might be a particle physicist, a teen or a grandparent. Learning styles, comfort levels and expectations differ greatly. This is perhaps why you hear a lot of references to progressive disclosure in conversations and interviews, but rarely any ideas about how to apply it effectively.

Usability guru Jakob Nielsen mentions progressive disclosure regularly. Nielsen has stated:

"Good usability includes ideas like progressive disclosure where you show a small number of features to the less experienced user to lower the hurdle of getting started and yet have a larger number of features available for the expert to call up".

"Progressive disclosure is the best tool so far: show people the basics first, and once they understand that, allow them to get to the expert features. But don't show everything all at once or you will only confuse people and they will waste endless time messing with features that they don't need yet".