Dropdown Fatigue: Fighting Form Friction

How overused dropdowns are hurting your user experience and what to do about it

Understanding Dropdown Fatigue

Dropdown fatigue occurs when users are forced to click through multiple dropdown menus to complete simple tasks. This creates unnecessary friction and cognitive load, ultimately leading to form abandonment and user frustration. The fundamental issue seems to be that developers and designers often reach for dropdowns as a default pattern without considering alternatives that might provide a better user experience. This is sometimes called "dropdown fatigue" in UX circles.

Here are the most common anti-patterns contributing to dropdown fatigue:

Better Alternatives

Examples -Before and After

Case Studies

Adam Silver's Form Design Patterns https://formdesignpatterns.com/

Decision Framework

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