The guided progression through a prescribed sequence, balancing task-completion focus against freedom to deviate. Flows range from simple two-step processes to complex multi-stage journeys, with supplementary options like skip, save and continue later, or jump to step.
Behavioural position
This model optimises for task completion over exploration, reducing cognitive load from navigation decisions whilst constraining freedom to deviate.
Primarily supports
- Transactional search — optimised for getting the job done
- TODO: Goal-oriented task completion with clear endpoints
Deliberately constrains
- Exploring — intentionally limited to maintain focus
- Browsing — lateral movement discouraged or impossible
- Navigating — constrained to sequence, even when destination is known
Variants
- Linear: strict sequence, must complete steps in order.
- Flexible: steps shown in overview, some skippable or reorderable. Approaches pyramid model
- Branching: different paths based on choices or conditions.
- Progressive disclosure sequence: simple initial steps, complexity revealed gradually.
Related components
- Progress indicators — visualise progression through steps
Resources & references
- Tidwell, Brewer, Valencia (2020) Designing Interfaces, 3rd ed.
Consequences
- one decision is in front of the actor at a time and the order is the system's responsibility rather than theirs — which is the whole benefit, and the reason an actor who already knows where they need to be can't get there
- the sequence is now a commitment the actor is partway into, so it owes them a way to leave and come back: what's been entered has to survive a stop
- the steps are the system's model of the task, and where the actor's task doesn't decompose that way there is nowhere to put the difference
Related patterns
Enables
- Form — a form split into one-question-per-page steps (the question-pages pattern)
Complements
- Deep linking — enables returning to specific steps via URL
Alternatives
- Fully connected — for focused processes
- Pyramid — for sequences with flexible navigation
- Hybrid patterns — for guided but flexible processes
- Multilevel tree — for structured but non-linear content
Related
- Intent & Interaction — guided completion without distraction
Instantiated by
- Wizard — Wizard is the canonical instantiation of step-by-step navigation