Nielsen: progressive disclosure

Type: practitioner. Reviewed: 2026-09-13.

Source

Jakob Nielsen. Progressive Disclosure. Nielsen Norman Group, December 3, 2006.

Original / authoritative source

Scope

Usability criteria and staged disclosure; the hotel-choice example.

Limitations

Distinguishes frequently needed features from advanced or later-stage work and discusses interdependent choices. This is practitioner guidance with illustrative usability observations, not a quantified experiment on our list. The guide does not assume that infrequent always means safe to hide.