How to Build an Accessible Hamburger Menu

Overview

Hamburger menus are popular for small-screen navigation. Building an effective one requires consideration of animation quality, responsiveness, and accessibility for screen readers and keyboards.

Key Steps

1. HTML Markup

   • Use semantic tags like <nav> for navigation elements.
   • Utilize an unordered list for navigation links for better semantic structure.

2. Styling with Flexbox

   • Use Flexbox to arrange header elements, keeping the <h1> on the left and navigation links on the right.
   • Remove default styles like bullet points and apply Flexbox for layout control.

3. Mobile Styling

   • Implement media queries targeting viewport widths of 40em (640 pixels) and less.
   • Style the hamburger menu with fixed position and vertical layout using flex direction column.
   • Create a close button using an SVG image within an HTML button for accessibility.

4. Animation & Transition

   • Use translate to control offscreen and onscreen menu states.
   • Apply CSS transitions for smooth animation effects.

5. Accessibility Features

   • Utilize ARIA roles and attributes like aria-expanded and aria-label for screen reader compatibility.
   • Implement inert attribute to control screen reader access when the menu is closed.

6. JavaScript Functionality

   • Write JavaScript to toggle aria-expanded attribute on button clicks.
   • Hide and show the menu dynamically using inert.
   • Lock body scrolling when the menu is open using packages like Body Scroll Lock.

7. Advanced Accessibility

   • Focus management for keyboard users (e.g., detecting menu opening and closing).
   • Responsive transitions with prefers-reduced-motion for users who opt out of animations.

Recommendations

• Course Suggestion: Practical Accessibility by Sarah Soyan for in-depth learning on web accessibility.
• Tools: Consider using existing tools for complex tasks such as scroll lock management.
• Source Code & Additional Resources: Available on GitHub.

Extras

• Mention of merchandise available at coder coder.com merch for interested users.

Conclusion

Crafting a responsive and accessible hamburger menu involves thoughtful markup, styling, animations, accessibility enhancements, and functional JavaScript. This comprehensive guide aims to equip developers with the necessary skills and insights.