--- title: Are Hamburger Menus Bad for Accessibility? description: Hamburger menus pose challenges for accessibility, but it’s certainly possible to build an accessible sidebar. Here are a few tips to keep in mind. --- [Digital Accessibility Blog ](https://www.boia.org/blog) # [Are Hamburger Menus Bad for Accessibility?](https://www.boia.org/blog/are-hamburger-menus-bad-for-accessibility) Written by [Alexa](https://www.boia.org/blog/author/alexa) | Oct 11, 2022 In web design, a hamburger menu is a button — usually with three horizontal lines — that typically opens a navigation menu.  The icon vaguely resembles a hamburger (or any other sandwich), hence the name.  Like many trends in web design, hamburger menus are controversial: They can cause accessibility issues, depending on their implementation, and they might obscure important navigational information. However, they’re extremely common — and while they pose a few potential issues for users with disabilities, sidebars can be accessible with appropriate markup. ## Pros and Cons of Hamburger Menus In 2014, Mike Stern, Apple’s user experience (UX) evangelist, called hamburger menus “tedious" and encouraged developers to avoid them:  “Remember, the three key things about an intuitive navigation system is that they tell you where you are, and they show you where else you can go. Hamburger menus are terrible at both of those things, because the menu is not on the screen. It’s not visible. Only the button to display the menu is.” Of course, [Apple’s own website](https://www.apple.com/) uses a hamburger menu on its mobile view (albeit with two lines instead of the traditional three). And since 2014, hamburger menus have spread to virtually every corner of the internet — including the Bureau of Internet Accessibility’s website.   As a design element, hamburgers have some serious advantages: - They save space and allow websites to maintain a clean aesthetic. - They can provide quick access to navigation on maps, web apps, and other complex content that requires more real estate.  - Most visual users will instantly recognize hamburger icons as navigation elements. The bottom line: Hamburger menus are useful, and they’re probably here to stay. And while they require more work than a traditional list of links, hamburger menus can be implemented without creating usability issues or accessibility barriers.  ## Tips for Improving Hamburger Menu Accessibility Hamburger menus are almost always used for mobile navigation — not as a primary navigation control for larger viewports (such as desktop browsers). That’s because the purpose of the menu is to save screen real estate. If you don’t have a shortage of real estate, a traditional menu is a better choice.  To create an accessible hamburger menu, follow these four tips:  ### 1. Start with semantic HTML. Native semantic HTML keeps your website organized in a logical way and ensures that your content works with a wide variety of user agents. That generally means using