Hamburger menu!!

[manicottiK]

How do you reach the first line of tiles on the start screen? or the notification center? Or the toast notifications?

My top row is for tiles that I wouldn't use except in situations where I'd be using two hands already.I seldom use the Action Center, but recognize that others do, particularly to see previous toasts. The philosophy behind toasts is that users can act on them immediately, but are not required to. This is which toasts shows up "on the margins" and disappear on their own.

Or the first item on lists? Or the links at the top of a web page?

Typically, these items are not at the top of the screen because of the large pivot or panorama headers or website branding/search/navigation controls. However, the top item in the email app is at about the limit of my thumb's reach.

Single handed use is impossible in big phones.

Can we meet half-way? In big phones, single-handed is desirable, but exclusive single-handed use is impossible. UI designs should facilitate as much single-handed use as is practical.

The hamburger menu should contain features that aren't commonly used (in relative terms), because two steps are needed to access those features.

Agreed, I think.

All of these discussions of "hamburger buttons" are really about four distinct issues:

1. the icon itself (despite what others think, almost no one cares about the actual shape of the thing)
2. the placement of the button (top or bottom)
3. the contents of the menu shown (infrequently-used things, just settings, or everything)
4. the impact on navigational models (moving forward via links on pages and back with a button or "random access" via the menu)

Let's see more discussion on the latter two since the first ones have been beaten to death and the second two could have a much greater impact on how WP apps work.

 

[Donny James]

So, if we wanted FEATURES we would be on Android. We want a system that is more elegant, fluid and retains what made it original in the first place.

You do realize you are asking for a system who UI never changes, never gets refined, upgraded right? So in 10 years it'll all be the same. Sounds really boring to me.

 

[Theayalalalalon]

Why people looks windows phone?
In first place is different
Different from all OS released
The windows phone 8.1 denim are the greatest os UI i see
I hope Microsoft dont touch it

 

[Yazen]

How can Microsoft be developing apps without having first created UX/UI guidelines?

This article is really nice to compare apps side by side:
Modern UI Comparison: Windows 10 versus Windows Phone 8.1 | Windows Phone Daily
Now compare the differentiation between WP8 and W10 apps.

They cannot possibility break compatibility with current WP8 apps. Got to wonder what is in store for phones
Imagine if an Android AOSP based ACL was in the works haha

 

[PuffTheMagicBelgian]

The metro UI is fading!! The easy navigation is going!

No it's not!

Microsoft is involving us in the development of the "new" way they're heading! This is a good and welcome change of scenery!
I for one, like the hamburger menu. It's easy to recognize, it's universal, and takes less space then the previous way of doing things. How can anyone be against evolution? Please reconsider and do not dismiss all these feature before having tried them for an extended period of time!

Who's to say, that maybe after a while the people will either like it and adopt it, or Microsoft will change it back in conjunction with the users and they're feedback. All i am trying to say and ask of all my Microsoft brothers and sisters, is to give it a chance, USE it and come to a well informed conclusion that is helpful and work's for everyone ;-)

Have a nice day!

 

[Plazma1]

This can't be final UI. Way too much looks unpolished and unusable at this point. The appbars are now three clicks away. I'm sure there are teams of designers figuring this stuff out and waiting to polish it off.

 

[BigbyWolf7]

Couldn't have agreed more. I've never liked the hamburger button to begin with and the one they have in the OneDrive app even less so. You tap it to open a nearly blank page only to either view the accounts you have or add OneDrive for business. I really think the triple dot settings button(what is it called really?) on the bottom left would've sufficed. Even people I know who have never used windows phones before immediately recognized it and knows that it brings up a settings menu. Aesthetically the tripple dot is cleaner, takes uop less screen space and really isn't that hard to get used to even if you're coming from another platform. If Microsoft really wants to stick with the burger for the sake of cross-platform accessibilty, perhaps give the rest of us a option to turn it off?

 

[white_Shadoww]

http://techcrunch.com/2014/05/24/before-the-hamburger-button-kills-you/

 

[a5cent]

^ Some searching surfaces dozens of articles, all of which reveal that many UI designers all over the world have long been questioning side panel navigation. It's not just us. However, only during this last year has empirical data from A/B testing been publicly released, showing just how much of a negative impact hamburgers can have on user engagement. Unfortunately, MS has never provided a standard approach to this type of navigation on WP (although hubs do fit the bill, but not for all types of apps). As a result, many apps don't do a better job than their Android/iOS equivalents, but some do.

MS is now, with W10M, finally committing to a standard method for UI navigation. Ironically it's the approach others, particularly the big name apps, are slowly moving away from...

 

[mortici]

My simple solution for the "universal" apps is to recognize a Device/OS string that tells the app its running on 6" or smaller, and moves those UI elements down below, or loads a different set of UI elements that are hidden on a bigger screen and vice versa. This way the app scales to the device and is truly Universal by definition.

 

[white_Shadoww]

My simple solution for the "universal" apps is to recognize a Device/OS string that tells the app its running on 6" or smaller, and moves those UI elements down below, or loads a different set of UI elements that are hidden on a bigger screen and vice versa. This way the app scales to the device and is truly Universal by definition.

Yes!!

 

[tiziano27]

http://techcrunch.com/2014/05/24/before-the-hamburger-button-kills-you/

The hamburger menu should contain options that aren't commonly used.
If the app is simple it makes sense to use it alone, for example the Picture gallery in W10.
If the app has more content, then it should be used in conjunction with tabs, for example the Calendar in W10.
If the app has lots of content then is unavoidable to add some more used options to the menu, for example the current Facebook app.

I think you guys are interpreting poorly the article. It's specific to iOS in which the tabs are at the bottom and the back button is at the top. Of course the hamburger menu at the top is bad idea in iOS, because It conflicts with other UI elements. But the solution proposed is functionally equivalent to an hamburger with tabs, for other OS without these restrictions.

More adequately this article criticize the problems in pivots and panoramas. The panorama hints only the next tab, the pivot max three tabs, everything else is hidden. It's not easy to discover the content and the navigation is difficult because the tabs are always changing.
Metro has to be improved or replaced with something better. Windows 10 is doing exactly that for the benefit of the users.

 

[a5cent]

I think you guys are interpreting poorly the article. It's specific to iOS in which the tabs are at the bottom and the back button is at the top.

I would make the same claim in reverse

I think that all navigation controls should be at the bottom, or within the lower 1/3rd... just like the back button is at the bottom. Keep all navigational control close to each other. Don't make my fingers reach to all four corners of the screen just to navigate an app's content, which is the most common task on a smartphone.

I agree with you that pivots have some problems, not always, but sometimes. The question is if this replication of poor ideas is really the best we can do...

 

[Nicholas Lovan]

OMG!!! Not the Hamburger menu! It will kill us all until we die from it!



I believe you are more than capable of handling a hamburger menu. I believe in you bro. [A Tear]

Death by burgers. XD

 

[tiziano27]

I would make the same claim in reverse

I think that all navigation controls should be at the bottom, or within the lower 1/3rd... just like the back button is at the bottom. Keep all navigational control close to each other. Don't make my fingers reach to all four corners of the screen just to navigate an app's content, which is the most common task on a smartphone.

I agree with you that pivots have some problems, not always, but sometimes. The question is if this replication of poor ideas is really the best we can do...

I know you think that, but the article is not about that.

Besides, tabs can be navigated dragging pixels in any part of the screen, you don't need to have the page titles at the bottom.

 

[a5cent]

I know you think that, but the article is not about that.

No it isn't, but there is some overlap between both topics which you aren't seeing for some reason. Anyway, your entire argument boils down to three points:

1. replicating more parts of Android/iOS UI will make W10M more familiar to Android and iOS users, thus increasing W10M's market share
2. replicating more parts of Android/iOS UI will encourage developers to engage more with WP because it makes app development easier/cheaper
3. Android and iOS are commercially more successful, so it follows they must have the better approach

At least the first and the third points are obviously incorrect. The second is correct in the sense that less visual variability can make porting apps to W10 slightly cheaper, but whether that by itself will lead to higher engagement by developers is highly doubtful. It would make a difference if the cost of app development for WP was the main cause for the app gap, but it isn't. You're trying to convince us that this is an important solution, but at least as far as it relates to developer engagement and the app gap , the problem it solves (even if we assume an unrealistically generous 20% cost reduction) is barely relevant.

 

[tiziano27]

No it isn't, but there is some overlap between both topics which you aren't seeing for some reason. Anyway, your entire argument boils down to three points:

1. replicating more parts of Android/iOS UI will make W10M more familiar to Android and iOS users, thus increasing W10M's market share
2. replicating more parts of Android/iOS UI will encourage developers to engage more with WP because it makes app development easier/cheaper
3. Android and iOS are commercially more successful, so it follows they must have the better approach

At least the first and the third points are obviously incorrect. The second is correct in the sense that less visual variability can make porting apps to W10 slightly cheaper, but whether that by itself will lead to higher engagement by developers is highly doubtful. It would make a difference if the cost of app development for WP was the main cause for the app gap, but it isn't. You're trying to convince us that this is an important solution, but at least as far as it relates to developer engagement and the app gap , the problem it solves (even if we assume an unrealistically generous 20% cost reduction) is barely relevant.

The design MS showed is great, including the hamburger menu and commands at the top. That makes a better product and more sales.

A happy Windows 10 user interested in the same user experience for her phone will find exactly that in WP, not a weird mess.

An Android user interested in WP will find a familiar user experience, not a weird mess.

Purchasing decisions are taken in minutes at the stores. There is no time to understand a weir mess. Buying a WP already requires a leap of faith, there is no need to make it harder.

...
I don't see how a lower cost of development and maintenance won't improve developer adoption. What other costs am I missing?

 

[tgp]

I think that all navigation controls should be at the bottom, or within the lower 1/3rd... just like the back button is at the bottom. Keep all navigational control close to each other. Don't make my fingers reach to all four corners of the screen just to navigate an app's content, which is the most common task on a smartphone.

The hamburger menu, at least on android, can be opened by dragging in from the side of the screen anywhere on the side it's on. You don't have to tap the actual button.

 

[white_Shadoww]

The hamburger menu, at least on android, can be opened by dragging in from the side of the screen anywhere on the side it's on. You don't have to tap the actual button.

Yes. But to to use the menus inside a hamburger, you have to tap them which are in the upper left corner of the screen which is hard to reach.

 

[white_Shadoww]

The design MS showed is great, including the hamburger menu and commands at the top. That makes a better product and more sales.

II'll tell you why hamburger and tabs are not a good choice for UI.
Okay, tabs. You say, you can see only 3 pivots in an app at a time. Yeah agree. That's why tabs are better. No, I don't agree. If the tabs are text based, only 4 tabs are shown at a time which is not so many more compared to the 3 pivots. If you want to fit more than 4 tabs, you have to use icons. Which takes users into thinking, guessing what that icon means. Good choice for UI? No! If you inserted more than 5 tabs in a single screen, it becomes cluttered and ugly.
See? WP was designed to be easy to use. If smaller text is used for pivots like here in tapatalk app, I don't see any problem in pivots. Neither aesthetically, nor functionally.

A happy Windows 10 user interested in the same user experience for her phone will find exactly that in WP, not a weird mess.

An Android user interested in WP will find a familiar user experience, not a weird mess.

Purchasing decisions are taken in minutes at the stores. There is no time to understand a weir mess. Buying a WP already requires a leap of faith, there is no need to make it harder.

...
I don't see how a lower cost of development and maintenance won't improve developer adoption. What other costs am I missing?

Don't agree purchasing decisions are taken in minutes at a store. People usually while buying a phone, first ask their friends. Friends suggest what they are using which is Android or iPhone mostly.

Second thing is apps. People think, 'if there is no snapchat app, no any official Google app, Twitter is not that functional, you can't change profile picture or cover photo in FB app, why should I buy this phone?' There is the problem you see?


Even after all this, a user tries to buy a WP, the guy at the store says, don't buy WP, it's not good. People blindly believe it. Heck where I live, these people even say, don't buy Sony Android, it is not as easy to use as Samsung Android.