Hamburger menu

The hamburger menu or hamburger icon is the button on websites and in apps that usually opens a side menu or navigation drawer.

Hamburger Menu has been around since the 1980s. The name comes from its design, due to the three thick horizontal lines that resemble a hamburger.

Due to the design constraints at the time, the icon representing a menu with additional options had to be something simple. The three parallel bold lines fulfilled this requirement and gave the user interface a minimalist look. The lines are an abstract representation of a vertical list of options and functions contained within.

What made the hamburger menu so popular?

The hamburger icon became more familiar with the advent of smartphones and mobile apps. With the new and smaller user interfaces, it was difficult to accommodate most of the options on the screen. To make navigation easier, developers had to place them in a menu, and the hamburger icon proved useful for this purpose.

Due to its clear look and purpose, the hamburger icon has since become the most popular icon for apps and websites to place their navigation options.

What is the hamburger symbol used for?

As mentioned above, the design of the symbol explains its original purpose. This purpose is still pretty much the same today.

However, the hamburger icon's function in apps is now more elegant due to advances in technology and design. It is now often used for menus that fold in and out at the edge of the screen. Tapping the icon opens a side menu with a selection of different options and functions.

When people use new apps, it can be difficult to interpret the different icons on the screen. The biggest advantage of the hamburger icon is that it is instantly recognizable to anyone familiar with mobile design. The icon is widely used, so it's easy to interpret even without an explanation.

The hamburger icon takes up almost no space, so it can be placed anywhere on the screen without interfering with other elements. Not everything belongs on the main page of your screen, so the icon does a good job by providing a predefined place for navigation elements.

Is the hamburger menu still up to date?

As we have seen, the hamburger button has many advantages, such as easy navigation and a clean user interface. However, it also has some disadvantages that have prompted app developers to look for alternatives.

As cell phone displays get bigger, it becomes increasingly difficult to reach the places where the hamburger button is normally located. This makes the user experience less appealing and the use of apps less convenient.

When you open an app for the first time, you naturally look for its most important features. The hamburger icon often hides most of the important options, making the interface less easy to discover for newcomers.

When important features are placed in a menu button, they seem less important. It gives the impression that these options are not important enough to place on the home screen and that they are not worth trying.

Advantages

A hamburger menu is a form of navigation displayed on the screen of a computer or smartphone. It consists of a simple button with three horizontal lines, also called a "hamburger icon". It is used to simplify and speed up navigation. Since a hamburger menu does not clutter the screen, it makes for a clear and user-friendly design. That's why it's often used in mobile apps.

A burger menu can improve the user experience and the Search engine optimization can increase. Since it simplifies navigation, it allows users to navigate to the pages they want faster. Since it cleans up the page, it also makes search engine crawlers see more content on a page crawl can lead to higher rankings.

Disadvantages

Despite its advantages, the hamburger menu also has disadvantages. Since it is collapsed on the screen, it is difficult for users to see the content without clicking on the menu. Therefore, they can't see what they can find on the page, and they also can't navigate without opening it. This can discourage users who want to navigate quickly.

Use cases

A hamburger menu provides an easy way to simplify navigation on a page. It can be especially useful when there are many different pages or subpages that a user can access. It is also useful when the page consists of many different elements that may overlap on the screen.

Example 1: An e-commerce store

When building a E-commerce-Stores, a hamburger menu can be useful to provide users with a clear navigation. It can help organize the different categories and subcategories of the store so that users can quickly navigate to the pages they want.

Example 2: A news page

A hamburger menu can also be helpful for a news site. It can help organize the different news topics and categories so that users can quickly navigate to the pages they want.

Conclusion

A hamburger menu is a useful way to simplify and speed up navigation on a website. Because it cleans up the screen, search engine crawlers can see more content on a page crawlwhich can lead to higher rankings. It can also help users navigate to the pages they want faster. However, it can also be difficult to see the content without clicking on the menu, which can put users off. It is best suited for pages with many different pages or sub-pages that a user can access.