Date First Published: 2nd October 2022
Topic: Web Design & Development
Subtopic: Web Design
Article Type: Computer Terms & Definitions
Difficulty: MediumDifficulty Level: 4/10
Learn more about what a hamburger menu in this article.
A hamburger menu, also known as a three-line menu, is an icon found in the top corner of the top navigation bar of websites that consists of three horizontal lines and displays when the navbar collapses, which happens when the screen is below a certain width. When visitors click on the three-line icon, a dropdown menu appears with the navigation links. The dropdown menu may appear on the left or right side, taking up most of the screen space or the menu may simply drop down below. Clicking on the three-line icon again will collapse the dropdown menu. It is called a hamburger menu as the icon looks like a top and bottom bun with meat in between them (☰). Hamburger menus are part of a responsive web design for smaller devices, such as smartphones. Unfortunately, the hamburger menu has no universal shortcut, but some programs allow the 'alt' key to be pressed to display the hamburger menu.
Hamburger menus are not only used on websites. They can also be used in apps and software programs.
Whilst hamburger menus are in common use, not all visitors are aware of the functionality of the three-line icon when they first come across it. Inexperienced users who are less familiar with the World Wide Web may find it confusing.
The icon that resembles a hamburger was originally designed by Norm Cox as part of the user interface for the Xerox Star that was introduced in 1981. The icon became more popular in 2009 due to the small screen area on mobile apps. Norm Cox described the creation of this icon, saying "Its graphic design was meant to be very "road sign" simple, functionally memorable, and mimic the look of the resulting displayed menu list. With so few pixels to work with, it had to be very distinct, yet simple. I think we only had 16×16 pixels to render the image. (or possibly 13×13... can't remember exactly).".
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