Overview
Menus appear when users interact with a button, action, or other control. They can be opened from a variety of elements, most commonly buttons.
However in XR, menus can also be assigned to a gesture or control command that takes care of invoking them.
Designers can define a variety of menus, depending on the use cases. Among them, most common menus could be:
- General: commands are constant across environments and experiences.
- Contextual: commands are exclusively relevant to a feature.
Usage
Use when
- Displaying a list of command choices on a surface.
- Displaying multiple, non-obvious commands, and options.
- Offering an option to close and/or unpin.
- Enabling voice commands or gaze-control for users with limited accessibility.
Don’t use when
- Performing actions with a model or spatial interfaces that could either interfere with the flow or perception of the center of attention.
- Immediate, decisive actions that require full user attention is needed.
Types
Menus are qualified by positioning and interaction.
Hand Menus:
Hand menus are interaction patterns that allow users to invoke features of an application and/or environment within an app, bounding actions to the palm-up gesture.
Near Menus:
Near Menus by default tag along users’ radius. However, all variants have a grabbable version with a bottom handle that allow users to place the menu where they find it convenient.
| Example | Type | When to use | 
| Hand Menus | Generic commands that allow users to move forward in the application. Users can seamlessly bring up hand-attached UIs for frequently used functions. They offer an opportunity to help users discover features by relying on this natural gesture. |
|---|---|---|
| Near Menus | Contextual commands and actions that need to be taken in relation to a virtual object. They usually emerge pop from another command and can contain multiple, diverse commands in them. |