I'm a huge fan of progressive disclosure for several reasons. First, as a former content manager, as sad as it makes me, I know that users read very little of the instructional text I would so lovingly craft for them. (We actually used multi-variant testing to show that applications had higher conversion rates when the text was removed.) They like to jump in and start completing form fields. I've personally completed the wrong fields myself before, because the fields that were not relevant to me were in the way of the ones that were.
The other reason is that forms can be overwhelming. If a user doesn't have their senses assaulted by the entire collection of fields, some of which are not applicable to their situation, it can be less daunting. And lastly, it can help you solve for a host of design challenges, such as space constraints or disparate experiences for separate but related tasks. -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Adam Connor Sent: Wednesday, February 13, 2008 11:20 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [IxDA Discuss] Progressive Disclosure and Forms I'd like to get some opinions on the subject of dynamically displaying form elements depending on user selection. ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
