32 comments

  • Xavier BertelsXavier Bertels, 7 years ago

    They copied the tab bar, and made it worse? Why would you encourage designers to hide labels? Why would you hide the bar when scrolling? So much confusion.

    35 points
    • Maximilian HennebachMaximilian Hennebach, 7 years ago

      Absolutely supporting your opinion.

      2 points
    • Christoph Hellmuth, 7 years ago

      Actually they also have guidelines for the bar with labels. And hiding the bar when scrolling / not needed is quite often used in popular apps.

      5 points
      • Xavier BertelsXavier Bertels, 7 years ago (edited 7 years ago )

        A hamburger menu is also popular, does not make it a good idea. I did not know about or find the guideline for a bottom navigation with labels, where did you see that?

        6 points
        • Marco ScannadinariMarco Scannadinari, 7 years ago

          Under the "Style" heading

          Style each action according to the following conditions:

          • When the view is in focus, display that view’s icon and text label
          • When there are only three actions, display both icons and text labels at all times
          • If there are four or five actions, display inactive views as icons only
          4 points
          • Xavier BertelsXavier Bertels, 7 years ago (edited 7 years ago )

            Oh okay, guess I was visual-focused :-). Still a bad idea for a go-to element though :/

            0 points
    • Ryan Lo, almost 7 years ago

      totally agree your opinion

      0 points
  • Piero BorgoPiero Borgo, 7 years ago

    Nice addition, but don't you think that the software buttons are too close to this new navigation bar? I predict so many wrong button presses :D

    12 points
    • Maximilian HennebachMaximilian Hennebach, 7 years ago

      Absolutely.

      2 points
    • Sander Värv, 7 years ago

      We designed a bottom navigation to our Android app and it's been out for six months now. No complaints from customers about wrong button presses. That doesn't rule out the possibility though.

      8 points
    • Oliver PattisonOliver Pattison, 7 years ago

      This is the fundamental problem with a navigation bar on the bottom of an Android app. This is a massive UI tradeoff in the operating system: commonly used universal actions on the bottom of the screen exist at the expense of Android apps being able to use the same area of the screen effectively.

      The reason why the pattern works at all on iOS is that there are no software buttons to compete with.

      1 point
    • Bruce Vang, 7 years ago

      I've tried it on Outlook, Google Photos, Google+ and there aren't any problems with the software buttons.

      3 points
    • Andy MerskinAndy Merskin, 7 years ago

      I was thinking the same thing, but after using Instagram for years now, I've never once had an issue with their tab bar on the bottom. In fact, I welcome it because my thumb can actually reach them on these damn huge phones.

      2 points
  • Mike A.Mike A., 7 years ago

    It is good for designers and users as well - you will have very similar patterns on Android and on iOS and it will be easier for you to design / use apps on these platforms: bottom navigation (Android) as an alternative to tab bar (iOS), tabs (Android) as an alternative to segmented control (iOS).

    6 points
  • wojtek w.wojtek w., 7 years ago

    That's what happens when manufacturers keep making phones bigger than 5".

    3 points
    • Zuno Young, 7 years ago

      always curious...how can android users reach the top bar (when switching between diff tabs happens a lot in some apps)

      0 points
      • Adil MajidAdil Majid, 7 years ago

        In most apps, you're able to swipe between the tabs on the top bar by swiping left and right, so there's no need to reach up :-). It's one of my favorite parts of Android, actually—I'm sad that they recommend against lateral swipes when using the bottom nav.

        0 points
  • 李 大毛李 大毛, 7 years ago

    Google used to want make a different, now they change their mind.

    3 points
  • Zac Sweers, 7 years ago

    Really surprised by this

    2 points
  • Joshua Newton, 7 years ago

    So is this a completely new component in their guidelines?

    2 points
  • Andrea NeguAndrea Negu, 7 years ago

    Finally they changed the top navigation.

    1 point
  • Evan KnightEvan Knight, 7 years ago

    Is it just an Android thing to not move laterally through views?

    On iOS, Google Photos moves laterally through views when using the bottom tab bar.

    1 point
    • Eric BlattbergEric Blattberg, 7 years ago

      Yeah, I've got to say, as I looked at those two examples, I thought, "The one they're telling designers not to do gives the content a greater sense of place and permanence. But the other one: How shiny! Wow!"

      1 point
  • Remus Baltariu, 7 years ago

    Finally some good changes for UX! For too long I couldn't understand why would they put top nav when is so hard to reach with nowadays phones. Still waiting for the upside-down list scrolling....

    1 point
  • Abhijeet WankhadeAbhijeet Wankhade, over 6 years ago (edited over 6 years ago )

    Has anybody been using this? Haven't really seen it in any app.

    0 points
  • Alex Cragg, almost 7 years ago

    I never had an issue with the tabs being at the top because you could swipe left and right, so you didn't have to reach for them. But now this...

    "Using swipe gestures on the content area does not navigate between views."

    I guess the swipe is unnecessary if the buttons are reachable now, but I still found it easier to navigate by swiping, as I could keep my thumb in the same place. Now I have to move my thumb to go to each section.

    0 points
  • Ollie BarkerOllie Barker, 7 years ago

    At least this means they acknowledge not everyone has massive fingers :)

    0 points
  • Joshua MillerJoshua Miller, 7 years ago

    Someone on the team finally read: How to Design for Thumbs in the Era of Huge Screens

    0 points
  • Kyle MitchellKyle Mitchell, 7 years ago

    that's a lot of UI buttons on the bottom of every android device.

    0 points
  • Gabe WillGabe Will, 7 years ago

    Get the pitchforks ready, boys.

    0 points
  • Daniel AdamsDaniel Adams, 7 years ago

    They added a new component but refuse to update the rest of the guidelines.

    0 points