Menus

What are App Menus?

An app menu is commonly used to help users navigate through your app. A click on a menu item provides a quick way to go to any screen in your app.

When creating an app, note that it already comes with a menu. This is regardless of whether the app was created using a template or a blank form.

You can change your app menu’s appearance and layout with menu styles. You can set your menu to either display all screens in your app or just a few select screens. You can even hide the menu from your users if desired.

How to Use App Menus

 

Why Use App Menus 

Menus are the widely used method to navigate users to other screens in your app. Your choice of style will somewhat fit personal preference.

Menu Styles:

Bottom icon bar – This menu will display as icons at the bottom of the screen. It’s useful for a visual representation of app screens. Typically only recommend apps with a small number of screens

Circle – This menu appears as a small circle in the button right corner of the screen. When clicked the menu will open a full-screen overlay

Overlay – A more traditional menu style, this menu will appear as a hamburger icon in the top right of the screen. When clicked the menu options will appear as an overlay

Push in – Similar to the overlay this menu is a hamburger menu when clicked the current screen will be pushed to the side to display the menu

Slide-in – Again this menu is similar to overlay, this menu will slide in from the side of the screen once selected.

Swipe – The swipe menu is a hamburger icon at the bottom of the screen, when selected the menu will appear as an overlay from the bottom of the screen. Users can swipe or click to move to the next screen in the menu.

Options in App Menus

Menu settings (for Push in, Overlay, Slide-in, and Circle menus)

Select where do you want the menu button	Allows placement of the menu button on either the right or the left side. This is set to On the right side by default.
Do you want to hide the menu?	Allows hiding the menu when users swipe up. This is set to No by default.

 

Menu settings (for Swipe menus)

Select the navigation style

Allows selection of navigation style, which can be any of the following: Navigation bar – features a menu bar and an overlay with the screens list, and swipe gestures.  Minimal navigation – features a minimalist navigation bar and swipe gestures. No navigation bar – With swipe gestures.

 

Menu Options – Menu styles tab

Bottom icon bar	Displays the menu as a bar of icons at the bottom of the screen
Circle	Displays the menu as a circle at the bottom of the screen. The menu items are displayed when the menu is clicked.
Overlay	Displays a hamburger menu. The menu items are displayed in an overlay over the screen when the menu is clicked.
Push in	Displays a hamburger menu. The menu items are pushed in when the menu is clicked.
Slide-in	Displays a hamburger menu. The menu items slide in when the menu is clicked.
Swipe	The menu items are displayed one by one by swiping the screen

 

Menu links

Select menu

Allows selection of screens to be displayed on the menu. Set to All screens by default. Other options are Hide menu and Custom menu.

 

Custom menu links

List of screens	Displays a list of app screens that can be custom-configured or deleted
Add menu link	Allows adding of a menu link
Link label	Allows labelling of a menu link
Select an icon	Allows selection of an icon that will be displayed with the menu link
Replace icon	Allows replacement of a menu icon with another one
Remove icon	Allows removal of a menu icon
Link action	Allows setting of a link action when the menu item is clicked. Link actions are discussed in more detail here.