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I'm designing a page where there's a columnar list of shops and a small description for each of these shops.

The client asked us to include logos and to hide the description with an arrow pointing down (probably because the logos would clutter the area); the user would need to click that arrow to see a small paragraph (at most 150 chars). Below is a sample of one of these blocks, before the requested changes.

However, it feels for me that's a bad idea (TM), as we're forcing the user to take manual action for each shop he wants to know more, but without even leaving the current page, only to discover the hidden content is a small paragraph of text.

Does my concerns make sense? If so, how can I better phrase that so the client understands the issue?

sample block

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It is not bad practice, it is called progressive disclosure.

By adding progressive disclosure you avoid clutter and only give the extra information when the user wants and asks for it. Do you think users want to see all descriptions directly, or do they want a quick overview of all shops and then request more information when they are interested in one? This is not a rhetorical question; You should know this from users.

It also greatly depends on how it is designed. A small arrow probably won’t be enough. Add a link or button with a title like “show shop information” or "show short description". The link should tell what the user can expect and avoid surprises. The arrow can certainly help with this by showing the direction it will show up.

Your point on display: none is true but also easy to bypass using the right semantics and css. See this answer on StackOverflow for one possible solution.

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  • Gotcha. Your reasoning makes sense. In the end it's another interaction, but might make sense depending on the need.
    – igorsantos07
    Dec 4, 2017 at 15:00
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    @igorsantos07 Personally, I'd prefer to see the descriptions (even if not all the text is shown initially) over a bunch of logos – I choose a shop by what it is/does than by how pretty its logo is. But, as jazZRo says, you (or your client) should ask actual users which they find better.
    – TripeHound
    Dec 5, 2017 at 12:19
  • Yeah, I feel the same. The client idea might also be to show volume (look at how many shops we have). As a touristic site, that does make sense.
    – igorsantos07
    Dec 5, 2017 at 16:09

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