Progressive disclosure: Minimalism to the max

How can technical writers provide the right amount of information to users with a vast variety of experience and product knowledge? Progressive disclosure offers a solution, which lets the user decide how much information is enough.

Text by Jang F.M. Graat

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Progressive disclosure: Minimalism to the max

Image: © Geber86/ istockphoto.com

Only tell the users what they need to know

As psychologist and computer scientist John M. Carroll explained in his groundbreaking book “The Nurnberg Funnel” (The MIT Press 1990), the idea that pouring lots of information into people’s heads will make them competent in their work is fundamentally wrong. People only really learn when they have a goal. Reading information that bears no relationship to real and realistic goals is as good as keeping a manual under your pillow while you sleep.

In his book, Carroll formulates the principles for minimalism in technical documentation. It all really comes down to one simple observation: the goal of a user of technical information is never reading the manual or learning cool facts about the product. The goal is achieving the task at hand by using the product. This is why customers hardly ever complain about the missing manual for a front door ...