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In this article we’ll examine three basic navigation patterns for mobile apps — hamburger menu, tab bar and gesture-based navigation — and describe strengths and weaknesses of each of them.
About the Mobile Only App Admins customize the navigation menu for Mobile Only in Setup. Users see the navigation items when they tap Menu in the navigation bar. The first four items also appear in the navigation bar at the bottom of the screen.
Which is the best navigation pattern for mobile?
If you’d like to add some patterns and spice up your designs, you can download and test Adobe XD for free and get started right away. Screen space is a precious commodity on mobile, and the hamburger menu (or side drawer) is one of the most popular mobile navigation patterns for helping you save it.
One of the vital features of a good app menu is the labels of every app menu button. Every one of these labels needs to accurately and concisely reflect what the button does. You need to make sure the menu buttons avoid confusing users by being too vague or improperly labeled.
An options app menu contains commands that apply across the current activity. They can also be used to start a new activity. They should not apply to a selected item in the content. That’s the domain of a context menu. For most devices, users press the menu button to access the app’s options menu.
Is the hamburger menu a good navigation option?
The main downside of the hamburger menu is its low discoverability, and it’s not recommended as the main navigation menu. However, this pattern might be an appropriate solution for secondary navigation options. Secondary navigation options are destinations or features that are important for users only in certain circumstances.