I'm building out a form at the top of page, where we are collecting 3 pieces of information. Would it be best to display this one line at a time or show all at once?

Scenario 1: - The first form field shows up. Upon being filled out, a second field appears underneath it. Once that is filled out, the third and final field appears below that. So the form expands as it's being completed.

One field at a time

Scenario 2: - All 3 fields appear at once.

All at once.[![][1]

  • 1
    What do you mean 'one at a time'? Are you talking about a wizard with three separate steps / pages? How would these form fields appear? – JonW Jan 11 at 16:42

If you have only three fields then you can choose single page with the same order. If you have more than ten fields you can select step by step form approach. And one more suggestion, we must reduce user typing for example we can give suggestions for industrial list so user can easily select instead typing.


You should show all the files together. It does not require the progressive load approach (one by one) as the form is small and does not dynamically change based on user choices.

Align the files in one column as it makes scanning and filling easy. Also, for the address field as it can be long use a multi-line field. Looking at the form it context, I am not sure if you want to capture home / office address or email address. If later is the case, then change the label accordingly.

Small enhancements like including Currency symbol on for Revenue field and including examples for Industry type if you are not making it a drop down would be helpful in suggesting users what to fill.

Hope it is helpful.


Yea, for short forms, just show all three fields in the order that you want them. Fields should be flush left and the Submit button should also be flush left.

Form alignment

Don't subject your users to long forms.

For more info, see https://www.lukew.com/resources/web_form_design.asp

  • Appreciate the reply RobC. Yes, this is intended to show max 3 fields. The intent is for a user to get a quote quickly while being efficient on space, which is why the other option is being considered. Thanks also for the link. – user122225 Jan 11 at 19:41

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