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Eh. I've come around on them. In 2015 I might have agreed. But they clearly caught on. We now have enough data that shows users know how to use them, and in ma

Eh. I've come around on them. In 2015 I might have agreed. But they clearly caught on. We now have enough data that shows users know how to use them, and in many cases prefer them. There's even one built into the Xbox controller for crying out loud. I won't begrudge the purists out there who find creative ways to avoid assimilating. But, uhhhh, I don't think this confusing footer link trick would actually win out in a UX test in 2023.

jmartrican 4y ago
Its also a key on keyboards. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menu_key https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menu_key
- panzi 4y ago
  Also on the Amazon Fire Stick remote: https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51Da2Z+FTFL.jpg https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51Da2Z+FTFL.jpg
- codetrotter 4y ago
  Tbh the keyboards at the time when the hamburger menu first showed up had symbols quite different from the symbol of the hamburger menu. And at the moment that symbol still looks different in the same way. Perhaps eventually keyboards will begin to use the hamburger menu symbol on the menu key. Probably a few do already. But I mean most keyboards. And also the hamburger menu symbol is not so much different from all of the other “mystery meatballs” (as Lynda Weinmann called them, many many years ago) that we all know and love. Today I expect that most people will be able to recognise and know how to use the hamburger menu.
  - NoZebra120vClip 4y ago
    My ThinkPad for Windows has no Menu key at all. Needless to say, my brand new Acer Chromebook definitely has no Menu key, much less a Hamburger key.
- bombela 4y ago
  back when you could actually use a GUI with a keyboard... those were the days.
  - chrismorgan 4y ago
    My computer use is heavily keyboard-driven. I don’t find it common to encounter things that are broken. Problems, sure (e.g. airlines’ date and airport selection dropdowns are pretty consistently poor, normally breaking basic usability stuff like “if I type MEL and then press Tab, I selected Melbourne, I didn’t throw away what I typed”; and improper killing of focus indicators is still stupidly common), but seriously with no extra or special software installed for the purpose, having no mouse would only slow me down in some places, without ruining anything for me.
- chrismorgan 4y ago
  Given the context here, however, I should note that the Menu key is purely equivalent to right clicking on what’s focused or selected or where the caret is in a text box, to open the context menu, which sounds fairly different from the Xbox controller’s Menu button (though I’ve never used it). As for the context menu, web pages should never touch it, and web apps shouldn’t often. I’m still sad about the death of <menu type="context"> which let you add to the native context menu. Now your only options as a web app are to leave the native context menu alone, or completely replace it, neither of which are great options, a lot of the time.
eastbound 4y ago
Aren’t we just rediscovering the pertinence of standardized actions? Windows 95 was the peak of usability (standardized menus, top bars, buttons, toolbars, bottom bar, keyboard shortcuts for everything), but it seems we’ve broken it down because… ? because it was boring? perfect uniformity made it look strict-minded? gray made people afraid of software? Or perhaps the power of machines meant that every large company could afford their own design? Anyway, yes the hamburger menu should become a standard, and the standard should be broken again because we don’t want life to be boring.
JohnFen 4y ago
I know how to use them, but I still hate them. They're a symptom of a larger issue with modern web (and application) UI design: discovery seems to be no longer considered important.
- bsder 4y ago
  Precisely, this article is part of a timeline. And has no "Next" or "Previous" links. Which are far more useful, especially if they were at the top of the article. You have to figure out that "Home" actually takes you to other articles--most definitely non-standard. In addition, whatever happened to the general UX advice "Users don't scroll"? Finally, on my monitor, it also has a gigantic amount of useless whitespace to the left and right no matter how wide you make it so the bottom links always manage to stay hidden. I'm no fan of hamburger menus, but there are far more fundamental UX mistakes being made here.
  - ryantgtg 4y ago
    This seems like normal “home” behavior. It goes to the home page. But yeah, where’s the pagination!
- Pxtl 4y ago
  Would you do away with all icons altogether? The hamburger icon is just as discoverable as any other.
  - JohnFen 4y ago
    It's not that the hamburger icon itself isn't discoverable. It's that the items under it aren't. There's no telling what is there until you click on it. As with all things, it's a tradeoff. Hamburger menus are always less than ideal, but I can see that the tradeoff of them is worthwhile on small screens. But if you aren't on a mobile device, there's no reason to use them. Use actual menus, or use icons that give some hint of the functionality behind them.
    - kitsunesoba 4y ago

jmartrican 4y ago

Its also a key on keyboards. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menu_key https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menu_key

panzi 4y ago
Also on the Amazon Fire Stick remote: https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51Da2Z+FTFL.jpg https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51Da2Z+FTFL.jpg
codetrotter 4y ago
Tbh the keyboards at the time when the hamburger menu first showed up had symbols quite different from the symbol of the hamburger menu. And at the moment that symbol still looks different in the same way. Perhaps eventually keyboards will begin to use the hamburger menu symbol on the menu key. Probably a few do already. But I mean most keyboards. And also the hamburger menu symbol is not so much different from all of the other “mystery meatballs” (as Lynda Weinmann called them, many many years ago) that we all know and love. Today I expect that most people will be able to recognise and know how to use the hamburger menu.
- NoZebra120vClip 4y ago
  My ThinkPad for Windows has no Menu key at all. Needless to say, my brand new Acer Chromebook definitely has no Menu key, much less a Hamburger key.
bombela 4y ago
back when you could actually use a GUI with a keyboard... those were the days.
- chrismorgan 4y ago
  My computer use is heavily keyboard-driven. I don’t find it common to encounter things that are broken. Problems, sure (e.g. airlines’ date and airport selection dropdowns are pretty consistently poor, normally breaking basic usability stuff like “if I type MEL and then press Tab, I selected Melbourne, I didn’t throw away what I typed”; and improper killing of focus indicators is still stupidly common), but seriously with no extra or special software installed for the purpose, having no mouse would only slow me down in some places, without ruining anything for me.
chrismorgan 4y ago
Given the context here, however, I should note that the Menu key is purely equivalent to right clicking on what’s focused or selected or where the caret is in a text box, to open the context menu, which sounds fairly different from the Xbox controller’s Menu button (though I’ve never used it). As for the context menu, web pages should never touch it, and web apps shouldn’t often. I’m still sad about the death of <menu type="context"> which let you add to the native context menu. Now your only options as a web app are to leave the native context menu alone, or completely replace it, neither of which are great options, a lot of the time.

eastbound 4y ago

Aren’t we just rediscovering the pertinence of standardized actions? Windows 95 was the peak of usability (standardized menus, top bars, buttons, toolbars, bottom bar, keyboard shortcuts for everything), but it seems we’ve broken it down because… ? because it was boring? perfect uniformity made it look strict-minded? gray made people afraid of software? Or perhaps the power of machines meant that every large company could afford their own design? Anyway, yes the hamburger menu should become a standard, and the standard should be broken again because we don’t want life to be boring.

JohnFen 4y ago

I know how to use them, but I still hate them. They're a symptom of a larger issue with modern web (and application) UI design: discovery seems to be no longer considered important.

bsder 4y ago
Precisely, this article is part of a timeline. And has no "Next" or "Previous" links. Which are far more useful, especially if they were at the top of the article. You have to figure out that "Home" actually takes you to other articles--most definitely non-standard. In addition, whatever happened to the general UX advice "Users don't scroll"? Finally, on my monitor, it also has a gigantic amount of useless whitespace to the left and right no matter how wide you make it so the bottom links always manage to stay hidden. I'm no fan of hamburger menus, but there are far more fundamental UX mistakes being made here.
- ryantgtg 4y ago
  This seems like normal “home” behavior. It goes to the home page. But yeah, where’s the pagination!
Pxtl 4y ago
Would you do away with all icons altogether? The hamburger icon is just as discoverable as any other.
- JohnFen 4y ago
  It's not that the hamburger icon itself isn't discoverable. It's that the items under it aren't. There's no telling what is there until you click on it. As with all things, it's a tradeoff. Hamburger menus are always less than ideal, but I can see that the tradeoff of them is worthwhile on small screens. But if you aren't on a mobile device, there's no reason to use them. Use actual menus, or use icons that give some hint of the functionality behind them.
  - kitsunesoba 4y ago