Take the 2-minute tour ×  I'm designing a web app specifically
for all tablet traffic. I'm going with the very popular left
side panel navigation like youtube,fb etc. The icon to
open/close the navigation is the standard icon and there is only
a logo and a search icon/dropdown on the top navigation.  Is it
best practice to default open the side navigation on first page
view on the site? This will cover about 25% of the
landingpage/homepage, which isn't ideal. I'm scared if I don't
default open, an inexperienced user will not know how to open
the side menu.  share|improve this question Is it 'popular'
because developers keep building it, or 'popular' because users
like it? –  Roddy of the Frozen Peas Feb 13 '13 at 16:56 Because
it's trendy –  user26071 Feb 13 '13 at 18:02 If by 'trendy' you
mean 'irritating beyond belief', ok I'll agree with that. ;) – 
Roddy of the Frozen Peas Feb 13 '13 at 18:49 Why do you think
so? They are practical, they allow more options in a menu
without dropdowns available and they al