Member-only story
“I hate three dot menus”
Modern UI is broken for most people
My partner and I were walking our dogs one morning during a Bank Holiday weekend here in the UK. She was was trying to edit a recent workout she had tracked using Strava. “Where would I find how to edit the workout?”, she asked. As the dutiful and loving partner I am (naturally), I replied “There’s probably a menu with three dots somewhere that will take you to the edit option”. My partner’s response was a declaration of frustration, built up over years now of dealing with modern UI: “I hate three dot menus”.
In that moment, two dogs walking around my feet, time slowed down and I had a stirring realisation: everyone hates the goddamn three dot menu. Every low-bar conversation I’ve had with friends, relatives and loved ones about troubleshooting their tech’ flashed before my eyes. One common thread united them: the three dot menu.
This is the story of how overflow or options menus hide important functionality (no surprise), how surfacing these options is not self explanatory and how the reasons behind putting options in these overflow menus of death are opaque to everyday users. Not only does this design trend affect how users use technology, it affects how they see the world, as user agency is collapsed.
