I don’t see any current threads on this, only old ones. Why is Brave following the “bad website design” trend of having a cryptic triple-line and cramming everything into a menu on the wrong side of the screen (right side)?
Almost every computer program for the last 35 years has had a top-left interface menu bar, with choices separated between File, Options, Help, etc. It’s much easier to find the options you’re looking for that way.
From my internet searches, it appears that a downgrade a few years ago removed this core UI feature.
website or web browser? Big difference. Your description after seems to be that you’re referencing the browser.
Wrong. You are right that some of the older designs on a lot of programs had things on the upper left. There also used to be a bar with all the menu options that would stretch all across the top. But just like people no longer have dial up internet, have went from using pagers/beepers to compact cell phones, and everything else…design has evolved.
Programs, apps, and web browsers all have different designs. Many of the web browsers in particular have moved away from the poor UI as you are speaking of. This is why you’ll notice that Edge, Chrome, Firefox, and other browsers don’t have the design as you are mentioning.
This isn’t to say all follow the same design. I’m sure you’re aware that Safari on Mac and Vivaldi on Windows have things more on the left. Safari actually has it stretch across the top whereas Vivaldi just has the drop down menu on the upper left corner rather than the upper right.
What are you calling “a few years ago?” It’s been like this for more than 15 years. I mean, you can check https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3RtgySxoHE which was uploaded to YouTube 14 years ago or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYXFfAN4DiI from 15 years ago.
Not at all. A big reason why they have adopted things to be as they are is because it’s a lot easier to find things as it is now. And much of the same keybinds as back then still work. Like on Windows if you press Alt+F which would have opened File it does the same now.
I first noticed the “3 lines equals a menu” cryptogram on websites, far before I saw it in any programs, which I why I referenced it. I’m a verbal person and find words much easier to process than abstract symbols. FWIW, I find most modern UIs unnecessarily obfuscated and slower to use.
I guess Brave has had a single “catch-all crowded menu” for longer than I realized, and simply removed the option for a traditional function-based menu bar several years ago. Maybe around 2018 or 2019? I found quite a few threads from people asking for the regular menus to come back that all seem to have gone ignored. I guess it’s not a priority, and I couldn’t find any extensions to add it either.
I suppose I’ll be sticking with Pale Moon and keeping Brave as a backup only. All of the main line browsers appear to be clones of each other 
Since Brave apparently only had a traditional menu as an option and not a core feature for so long, I suppose it’s not going to get added back as a choice and this thread can go ahead and be closed.
1 Like
10 years earlier. What you essentially had is that Android and iPhone came out approximately 2007/2008. Then by 2010 they had streamlined UI to be shared between the devices. The design went more to what could be consolidated on smaller screens.
It seems most people are right handed and it seemed to be we held our devices similarly. So buttons and menus were designed so it’s easier to open and see with our thumbs. That essentially laid the ground work for what we have.
Once that was done, they had a decision. Do you build two completely different UI and have to put in a lot of time and money to maintain it, or do you share the same UI between everything? Of course, the easy answer was to use the same UI. Not only did this make it easier for people to transition, but it means less time and money from the developers.
It kind of made sense as well. The scroll bar is on the right, as are the buttons to minimize/maximize the window, etc. So the natural position for a lot of people on desktop was to be on the right hand side of the screen. Thus having it there also made more sense than making them constantly scroll back and forth from left to right. Except for hitting the Back and Forward buttons overall, there’s little reason to be on the left.
From what I can remember, they never had the older menu bar. Such as you can see at https://www.ghacks.net/2016/02/25/first-look-at-brave-browser-for-windows/ where they showed the earlier stage of Brave, it had the hamburger menu on the right side and didn’t have the menu bar.
This is because Brave was built off of Chromium. Since Chrome/Chromium had moved to this UI since at least 2010, then that’s what we had.
Yeah, you get it every once in a while. But it’s not enough of a demand and would be too much work to change. Overall would have a higher chance for it to be fixed “upstream” by Chromium teams.
To circle back, it never had it from anything I can find. I gave you some reference points of videos and pictures shared from all those years ago which kind of confirm that. I’m not sure if it’s a false memory, if you had something else, or if you might have fallen to some Mandela Effect.