The New Myspace Nav Bar?

Is the new slide-out side nav better than a bottom nav bar?

• Does anyone have any user testing results or research on the effectiveness of the slide-out side bar vs the standard bottom nav bar on mobile apps? It's popping up everywhere but is it better?

• Answer:

  Although both of them are meant to offer the user a list of "spaces" in the app for them to navigate to, neither is better than the other because they exist for different reasons. Bottom Toolbar The original bottom toolbar for navigation exists as a nice and simple way to navigate from one space to another. According to the Apple HIG: A tab bar gives people the ability to switch between different subtasks, views, or modes. This works great because it is a consistant element and users are one tap away from any other screen. However, the Apple HIG also says: On iPhone, a tab bar can display no more than five tabs at one time; if the app has more tabs, the tab bar displays four of them and adds the More tab, which reveals the additional tabs in a list. On iPad, a tab bar can display more than five tabs. What if your app has more than 5 places? They get over flowed into a list that is hard to find. Also, all your places are visually considered peers. Is the settings screen as important as the main feed in Facebook? This completely falls apart when major products start to build iOS apps. You lose hierarchy and focus by using the bottom tabs. Another consideration is the amount of screen real-estate that a second toolbar takes up. For a consumption app, like Facebook, a second toolbars gets in the way of simply browsing and reduces immersion. Iteration Let's look at Facebook's original iOS app. This sort of solves the problem. It takes the full product of facebook and put its in an app. They put all their primary spaces in an upfront grid. This gives you entry points into the different parts of the app. There are two problems with this. One is focus; You may notice now that facebook starts in the news feed because they really want you to spend time there. By starting into a grid of options and choices, the user has to do work. It can feel overwhelming. I would guess that mobile engagement increased a lot by dumping users directly into the primary feature. The second problem is more abstract. It is how things feel. With the tab bars you have this big often black bar on your screen that feels heavy becuase it never moves and just eats up your screen. With a grid view you have what is essentialy a lobby for your app that you have to return to every time you want to get to a different place. It feels like a lot of work to navigate from News Feed to Messages. And, it is the same amount of work that it takes to navigate between less important places. Side Nav The side nav does a pretty good job at solving these problems. It feels lightweight; any screen can simply slide away so that you can navigate somewhere else. Because of this you don't lose a sense of place or feel like you have to take a step backwards just to go forwards again. The side nav offers an infinitely scrollable place for you to put features. Don't add a bunch of features because you can but at least you don't have to worry about scale. Finally you have less UI on the screen which, for a consumption app, it very important. The main problem with the side nav is that it buries the navigation. It makes the app less discoverable because the user has to work to figure out what's in the app and where to go. This may seem trivial but mobile thrives on low friction. Why choose one over the other? Choose a tab bar if your app is small and has only a few places. If your app is very action oriented, a tab bar lets you prominently feature a primary action and a few places. Instagram is a good example of this. Choose a side nav if your app is more complex and if you want to drop some of the UI. Only use a side nav if you really need it. Remember, you are burying your navigation so that it is not instantly discoverable by the user.