14 DAY TRIAL // Back in 2014, Microsoft launched a redesign of the OneDrive client for Windows Phone that sort of started a completely new trend for its own mobile platform, bringing the Android-inspired hamburger menu button in more and more apps developed for its devices.
It's no secret that users opposed to this new approach from the very beginning, but as Microsoft continued to introduce the hamburger button in more apps and eventually in Windows 10 for phones, some actually started to get used to it. Others still hate it.
In an AMA session on reddit, jragon, who is a former Microsoft employee who designed the new version of Office for Windows Phone, details the whole concept behind the arrival of the hamburger button on Redmond's mobile operating system, explaining that it's all related to usability.
“Our model wasn't going to work”
jragon provided two very detailed answers (which you can read below) to explain the reasons behind the decision to bring the hamburger button in Windows Phone, and pointed out that the old interaction model of Microsoft's operating system “just wasn't going to work.”
“You can't stick navigation in a horizontal direction. It's part carousel, part ‘mystery meat navigation’ and it just doesn't work. So. We needed to figure out what the new model would be,” he said.
Creating a title bar at the top with common actions and the three-dot menu at the bottom was the first way to go, he said, but that didn't work either.
“The problem is, there's just way too many things on the top bar. For example, you might want to print. How do you do it? Well, you could design a print icon in the top bar. But it's probably not worth it. You could hide it in the ribbon, but that sort of sucks for discoverability,” he added.
So this is how they ended up with the hamburger menu. Why it does have to look like a hamburger and remind everyone that it's coming from Android is still an enigma, but it most likely has something to do with consistency and usability, as everyone would figure out the purpose of this button much more easily.
In the end, it's pretty clear that the hamburger button is here to stay and Windows 10 will make it a common feature on both PCs and phones. Current technical previews already have it, and expect more apps being redesigned for the Windows 10 rollout to get the hamburger treatment as well.