Well normal users all know that it has two functions, to make the sidebar slide one way, and also make the sidebar slide the other way, all depending on sidebar state.
But we other abnormal users always have to click it a couple of times to get a hang of it. Furthermore a few days later we forget and well, go clicking it again…
I have a proposal: use slightly different icons in the two different states!
Yes, this is a common icon on the web. But Discourse could lead the way to making it more user friendly.
In fact, I do believe it is the single remaining “booby trapped” multi-functional icon.
So wicked that it does the opposite half the time… Can’t think of any other like it.
I agree that the hamburger that means “toggle the sidebar” is confusing. I click it expecting something else to happen (I don’t know what) breaker every day.
The hamburger opens a menu, as expected. Closing is unexpected action. How big real world issus is that, is the actual question now and answer for that gives quite obvious solution then.
Wait. There has never been any confusion with the Chrome vertical three dot menu button in the upper right of my browser.
That is because after pushing the three dots, the menu is obviously either open or closed.
So the problem is one cannot tell if the three bars are associated with the sidebar, etc…
And double bummer is they even coyly slide around after one mistakenly presses it. Meaning one has to chase it around with the mouse to press it again. At least on Desktop.
Just like chasing around a barnyard chicken that knows its days are (hopefully) numbered.
I imagine that, like me, you expect it to open a temporary, drop-down or otherwise modal menu like basically every other app and website that ever adopted this icon for menus. And furthermore you might expect it to hold options somewhat less common than the primary nav, unless you’re on mobile. What Discourse has is a sidebar and, when used at desktop resolutions, it’s a normal nav sidebar, not a menu. Collapsing it can be desirable for some users, but while I get that the hamburger-type icon is in some way reminiscent of the structure of the sidebar, it communicates something else by popular convention (and, in some cases, literal design guidelines from big companies).
I know I’m commenting on an old topic here, but I’m back to some Discourse work and noticing some of these UI and UX oddities that stand out to me. It frankly surprises me that this was adopted as the default and remains the icon for this function. It may seem minor but when an app or platform defies widespread design conventions it confuses people, and that affects their daily experience of that app or platform. I still click that button at least once a day expecting it to drop down options or something. I work on a 4k screen so I have no actual need to collapse the sidebar, well… ever. It’s a sort of muscle memory from so many other apps and websites.
Other tools have solved the expand/collapse sidebar behavior with a variety of icons, all of them clearer to me than this one. It’s worth reconsidering IMO.
Yes, it’s great work! I discovered it while searching in the forum for a relevant prior topic before I found this one. That said my concern is more fundamentally about out-of-the-box usability since many people don’t customize Discourse very much. I have long been an advocate for Discourse reaching outside of the techie community crowd more significantly, and it’s nice to see efforts that direction of late (free and cheap hosting, usability improvements, settings cleanup and categorization, etc.). And yet surprising to see something like this that, from my perspective, acts so counterintuitively to the established interface norms I interact with everyday in other apps, websites, and tools. It’s a small but meaningful thing.
thank you for that!