Hey guys, new to this forum.

 

To begin, I wanted to share a post we wrote about the history of the very polarizing hamburger icon. It's apparently much older than we thought!

http://blog.placeit.net/history-of-the-hamburger-icon/

 

In my opinion, the icon is great when correctly used (to show extra options or lists) but I don't like it when designers hide all the features completely behind it, forcing the user to take an extra step each time he wants something.

 

What do you think?

I personally feel that if the main menu is large and you're trying to create a minimalistic or responsive design the Hamburger is ideal. Lets face it - one click to view the menu is not too unfriendly.

 

You should however make the icon clear if you do use it and ensure that the user knows it is a button/clickable.

Edited November 13, 201411 yr by danieljoseph

I don't like the use of the hamburger icon on desktop sites, but it's great on devices where screen size is at premium. The issue being on large screens it's better for the user to see the menu options without having to click, it might seem like an easy task, but it's still a task and having them visible directly will produce a higher click through rate.

You can write some smart javascript to determine when the width of the menu items exceeds their container (viewport width in most cases) and then collapse the menu with the buger icon to toggle it's visibility.

Welcome to the forum. I enjoyed reading your article.

 

Here's my humble opinion:

When it comes to the icon it self there is really nothing to discus. The meaning of the hamburger icon is so widely recognized among users that it can be added to the list of “UI design conventions” just like the X for close or the magnifier for search.

 

The issue to debate is the functionality behind the icon (or any element) that triggers hiding/showing or expanding/collapsing content.

When designing a user interface it's not always a good idea to have all options directly accessible to the user even if it means a click or two more.

The classic example is Yahoo vs. Google. When Google launched their search-engine the UI was in total contrast to Yahoo's.

Yahoo's interface made use of almost every pixel to assist the user with directly accessible categories, tags and search filters.

The problem was that the users rarely used all these features so Googles interface enhanced the user experience by having all the options hidden.

 

In general I think it's more convenient to click than to scroll but there are some exceptions. If you are using a mouse on a desktop/ laptop and the element you want to click is at the other end of the screen you would first have to move the mouse pointer and then click. In that case using the scroll wheel would be easier.

Edited November 14, 201411 yr by Nillervision