Google's New Design Rules for Apps

Google has rolled out a fresh set of design guidelines for apps, focusing on how users move around within them. This update, part of the Material 3 Expressive package, brings some significant shifts in what's recommended for app navigation. The bottom bars, now called "navigation bars, " have undergone a makeover. They've shrunk in height and ditched the pill-shaped indicators that showed which tab was active. This change is a departure from the previous trend of taller bottom bars. The update also introduces a new player: the "flexible navigation bar. " This bar is shorter and more adaptable, replacing the old "original navigation bar, " which has been phased out. This new bar supports horizontal navigation items in medium-sized windows, like those on foldables and tablets. The tab label now appears to the right of the icon, making it easier to identify. One of the biggest changes is the deprecation of the "navigation drawer. " Instead, Google is pushing for the use of the updated navigation rail. This rail comes in both collapsed and expanded forms. The collapsed version is wider than the original and can easily switch to the expanded view, revealing secondary destinations that weren't visible before.

The navigation rail is designed for medium to extra-large window sizes. This means it's perfect for foldables, tablets, and even larger screens, like those on desktop computers. Google's goal is for apps to use this expanded navigation, which has mostly the same functionality as the old navigation drawer but adapts better to different screen sizes. However, there's a catch. Google seems to have overlooked phones. There's no replacement for the navigation drawer on smaller screens, even though the documentation previously showed it on phones. This is a puzzling oversight, and it's unclear if it will be addressed in the future. It's also possible that popular apps like Gmail and Keep might get redesigns that remove the navigation drawer, but that would be a massive task. These guidelines are just that—guidelines. App developers can choose to follow them or not. But it's interesting to see how Google is trying to standardize app navigation, even if it's not perfect.

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