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> Yes, I know it will look really cool, but do you really need to break platform conventions (that users have already spent a lot of time learning) just for you

> Yes, I know it will look really cool, but do you really need to break platform conventions (that users have already spent a lot of time learning) just for your one thing? > Maybe instead of pointing an arrow at a hamburger button and telling the user what's under that button, we should consider something less insanely vague and useless as the hamburger button? I'm not a huge fan of the hamburger button either, but it's certainly not a good example of something that breaks platform conventions. In fact, some use the hamburger button over other, more descriptive icons precisely because, in today's UX landscape, it's conventional to do so.

potatolicious 11y ago
I disagree, though I guess it might be over semantics. The hamburger button is common, but it is not any clearer to the user today than it was when it first started popping up - and for good reason, because the hamburger button was never a well-defined piece of UI. The hamburger button is literally the Everything Button(tm), and as such it's unlearnable, because "Everything" is different for every single app, and "Everything" is far too broad for users to develop expectations around. So maybe we're arguing over semantics about what's a convention and what isn't - the hamburger button is an incredibly common UI element, but the users never learned any conventions around its use, because there were never any. And this isn't just idle complaining - in every single app I've ever done, and in all the apps where I've had visibility into user patterns, and with all of the mobile devs I've been able to ask this question to, the answer has been unanimous - when subject to quantitative testing, the hamburger button falls apart. Screens placed in hamburger button menus receive way fewer clickthroughs (1-2 orders of magnitude) than screens that are clearly labeled by buttons or tab bars. When placed in situations where the user is unsure how to proceed, the hamburger button is literally the least touched UI - users will touch just about anything before they touch the hamburger button. Putting features behind hamburger menus is quantitively a death sentence. It's a great way to guarantee it gets minimal (if any) exposure to users at all. So I guess I'm being a bit roundabout - but the distinction I'm trying to make is that while developers seem to think the hamburger button is well-established convention, this does not bear out when observing user behavior. "Users know what the hamburger button does" is a faulty assumption.
- lewisl9029 11y ago
  Yep it does look like we're only disagreeing on semantics. I consider using the hamburger button as the Everything Button(tm) a convention onto itself, simply because it's used so pervasively that users don't really have a choice but to become accustomed to it. I don't believe it's a very intuitive or useful convention, but it's a convention none the less.

potatolicious 11y ago

I disagree, though I guess it might be over semantics. The hamburger button is common, but it is not any clearer to the user today than it was when it first started popping up - and for good reason, because the hamburger button was never a well-defined piece of UI. The hamburger button is literally the Everything Button(tm), and as such it's unlearnable, because "Everything" is different for every single app, and "Everything" is far too broad for users to develop expectations around. So maybe we're arguing over semantics about what's a convention and what isn't - the hamburger button is an incredibly common UI element, but the users never learned any conventions around its use, because there were never any. And this isn't just idle complaining - in every single app I've ever done, and in all the apps where I've had visibility into user patterns, and with all of the mobile devs I've been able to ask this question to, the answer has been unanimous - when subject to quantitative testing, the hamburger button falls apart. Screens placed in hamburger button menus receive way fewer clickthroughs (1-2 orders of magnitude) than screens that are clearly labeled by buttons or tab bars. When placed in situations where the user is unsure how to proceed, the hamburger button is literally the least touched UI - users will touch just about anything before they touch the hamburger button. Putting features behind hamburger menus is quantitively a death sentence. It's a great way to guarantee it gets minimal (if any) exposure to users at all. So I guess I'm being a bit roundabout - but the distinction I'm trying to make is that while developers seem to think the hamburger button is well-established convention, this does not bear out when observing user behavior. "Users know what the hamburger button does" is a faulty assumption.

lewisl9029 11y ago
Yep it does look like we're only disagreeing on semantics. I consider using the hamburger button as the Everything Button(tm) a convention onto itself, simply because it's used so pervasively that users don't really have a choice but to become accustomed to it. I don't believe it's a very intuitive or useful convention, but it's a convention none the less.