APPLYING THE CONCEPT OF PROGRESSIVE DISCLOSURE
Progressive disclosure means providing only the information people need at the moment.
The figures below show an example of progressive disclosure from MailChimp (from
www.mailchimp.com. MailChimp is a trademark of The Rocket Science Group, LLC). Rather
than putting a full description of what you can do with the service on the first page, there
is just a list and an image for each activity (Figure 27.1). When people click on one of the
activities, they get a little more information (Figure 27.2), and then they can go a level further
for more details (Figure 27.3). By giving them a little information at a time, you avoid
overwhelming them, and also address the needs of different people—some may want a
high-level overview, whereas others are looking for all the detail.