Progressive Disclosure - Pandora`s Box Approach

Interaction designers face a dilemma: * Users want power, features, and enough options to handle all of their special needs. (Everybody is a special case somehow. For example: Who wants line numbers in a word processor? Millions of users, that's who, including most big law firms.) * Users want simplicity; they don't have time learn a profusion of features in enough depth to select the few that are optimal for their needs. Progressive disclosure is one of the best ways to satisfy both of these conflicting requirements. It's a simple, yet powerful idea: 1. Initially, show users only a few of the most important options. 2. Offer a larger set of specialized options upon request. Disclose these secondary features only if a user asks for them, meaning that most users can proceed with their tasks without worrying about this added complexity.