Why and How to Avoid Hamburger Menus

The article says hamburger or sidebar menus create several problems: they hide options by default, make navigation slower, clash with platform patterns like iOS, and make item state harder to understand at a glance. It also notes that hiding navigation for screen space is often a misunderstanding of how people actually perceive interfaces.

Reading notes

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• Sidebar menus hide their contents until people open them, so discoverability drops.
• The pattern adds friction because people must open the menu before reaching their destination.
• On iOS, a burger menu conflicts with the back button and other standard navigation patterns.
• It is harder to show item-specific state or notifications when navigation options are hidden.
• Saving screen space should not come at the cost of navigation or basic HCI principles.
• The article says the general rule is to avoid this pattern, with only rare exceptions.
• IRCCloud is given as a case where the pattern can make sense because the main screen does not need a hierarchical navigation stack.
• Even there, the article says the interface is overloaded and the information architecture should be reconsidered.
• The proposed alternative is to review the information architecture and use visible navigation, such as tabs or a toolbar.
• Visible tabs let state appear directly, keep items instantly accessible, and avoid navigation gesture conflicts.
• For websites on mobile, the article recommends showing navigation in the header as a list instead of hiding it.
• If there are more than five tabs, the article suggests using the last tab for extra options or a scrollable toolbar for actions.