New Poll: Does Offscreen / Drawer Nav Work for Desktop Too?

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Chris Coyier on (Updated on )

A reader wrote in with this question:

We know that slide out menus are good for mobile (Facebook, Gmail, etc) But do you think they are appropriate for desktop web applications?

Good question. You know the type:

Certainly we can replicate this design pattern on desktop sites. But should we? Does it make sense? Didn’t this pattern evolve simply because nav can be very space consuming and, while we have plenty on desktop, don’t have enough on mobile? Does the ubiquity of this pattern on mobile mean it can now move safely into desktop without confusing anyone?

There are already projects taking it on, like Sidr, Meny, jPanelMenu, and many more. I see people experimenting with it on CodePen all the time.

Let’s take it to a poll! It’s over in the sidebar.