Hamburger menu (was Re: technique to include security)

Hiya.

The hamburger menu and it's three vertical dots friend 'the kebab menu' are not new at all.

We tested them a few years ago at the BBC. I don't remember the details, but I can remember the main take away being that explicit menu names were better. I don't remember how strongly that was found to be.

linked to memory load for making objects actions and options visible

I disagree at this point. Putting everything on the page also tests badly.

As screen space drops, the art is putting the right objects visible on the page and hiding those who are less important.

A blanket declaration that hiding menus behind iconography is a bit blunt, I don't think object memory is the difficulty here.

To play devils advocate, all emerging affordances and conventions have to emerge. Hamburger menus are used across the web and within native mobile apps. In this regard they are very consistent.

I would hazard that for many users (myself included) consistency of an icon to mean 'more things' is actually less overload than trying to figure out what the term picked actually means on each and every website. Three bars is much easier than interpreting 'more', 'menu', 'all", "..." The other myriad things people use as menu button labels.

In memory term, I remember one thing (3 lines means more thins) rather than having to try and remember the wording used on each and every site I visit.

In my mind consistency and convention lead to affordances and we have to be careful not to be too alarmed as new conventions arise.

We don't use the hamburger menu right now at the BBC. But I am sure we will test it again soon and see what happens.

I suspect we will see an inflection point. Where more users know what it means than those who do not. When that point is I don't know.

My final thought is that the hamburger menu is a convention from the mobile world. As more and more users use the web on mobile first we may find that the demographics start to make a big difference. For example younger users, or poorer users (who only have access to the web on mobile) are the first to understand the convention.

Sorry that for a bit long! Quite a digression! Will change the subject to help with the threading.

Jamie + Lion

On 18 Aug 2015, at 12:42, EA Draffan <ead@ecs.soton.ac.uk<mailto:ead@ecs.soton.ac.uk>> wrote:

I agree and interestingly Jakob Nielsen has just come out with some new guidance about those three lines that we now see as menu items for responsively designed sites – this is also linked to memory load for making objects actions and options visible in this case the fact that you lose the main menu system and are presented with what he calls a ‘hamburger menu’. http://tinyurl.com/nreydpa


Best wishes
E.A.

Mrs E.A. Draffan
WAIS, ECS , University of Southampton
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From: Steve Lee [mailto:steve@opendirective.com]
Sent: 18 August 2015 12:04
To: John Rochford
Cc: public-cognitive-a11y-tf; lisa. seeman
Subject: RE: technique to include security


That's very good

Steve Lee
Sent from my mobile device Please excuse typing errors
On 18 Aug 2015 11:58, "Rochford, John" <john.rochford@umassmed.edu<mailto:john.rochford@umassmed.edu>> wrote:
Hi Lisa,

My second impression about this approach is that it could be combined with recommendations for what developers *should* do.

Example:
“Minimize the user’s memory load by making objects, actions, and options visible. The user should not have to remember information from one part of the dialogue to another. Instructions for use of the system should be visible or easily retrievable whenever appropriate.”

Reference: Neilson 10 Principles at http://www.expressiveproductdesign.com/nielsens-10-usability-heuristics-user-interface-design/ , provided by Steve Lee to our list serve on 8/14.

John

John Rochford<http://profiles.umassmed.edu/profiles/display/132901>
UMass Medical School/E.K. Shriver Center
Director, INDEX Program
Instructor, Family Medicine & Community Health
www.DisabilityInfo.org<http://www.DisabilityInfo.org>
Twitter: @ClearHelper<https://twitter.com/clearhelper>
 <http://www.facebook.com/pages/New-England-INDEXShriver-CenterUMass-Medical-School/227064920160>
<http://www.facebook.com/pages/New-England-INDEXShriver-CenterUMass-Medical-School/227064920160>

From: Rochford, John
Sent: Tuesday, August 18, 2015 6:48 AM
To: 'lisa.seeman' <lisa.seeman@zoho.com>; public-cognitive-a11y-tf <public-cognitive-a11y-tf@w3.org>
Subject: RE: technique to include security

Hi Lisa,

My first impression about this approach is that it does not provide developers any recommendations about what they *should* do, which is the optimal approach.

John

John Rochford
UMass Medical School/E.K. Shriver Center
Director, INDEX Program
Instructor, Family Medicine & Community Health
www.DisabilityInfo.org
Twitter: @ClearHelper



From: lisa.seeman [mailto:lisa.seeman@zoho.com]
Sent: Tuesday, August 18, 2015 6:02 AM
To: public-cognitive-a11y-tf <public-cognitive-a11y-tf@w3.org>
Subject: technique to include security

Hi
I was thinking of the following technique as a way to include security and other considerations



"Do not require cognitive abilities when it is  avoidable"


In security this may include:
Requiring that the user has a good working memory or short term memory required to copy a code
Requiring that the user can remember complex passwords
Requiring that the user can remeber spelling of terms used in security questions such as how to spell a strange pets name
Requiring that the user can remember visual patterns

Having tokans, signing in via email account or face book, or biometrics are all alternatives to the above


In voice  systems this may include,

  *   Requiring the user to understand categories,
  *   Requiring the user to remember numbers
  *   can all be used as a barrier to getting human help
is is aviodable by having 0 as a reserved digit to access a human

In the Web of things this may include:

  1.  remembering what symbols mean
  2.  remembering sequences to run certain tasks
This is aviodable by having simple text with symbols and
clear discovrability of how o complete each task
and recovrability from errors



All the best

Lisa Seeman

Athena ICT Accessibility Projects
LinkedIn, Twitter




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