Hamburger menu for desktop website

Question

I'm working on a new version of a corporate website. As it stands, it has about 6 different sections. Each of those sections have between 3 to 6 sub-pages. My nav is at the top of the page and looks a bit like the wireframe below:

^{download bmml source – Wireframes created with Balsamiq Mockups}

I have made some simple dropdowns with js to handle the desktop side of things. For tablets and mobile devices I have gone with the standard right aligned hamburger menu button. The more I look at the site on a tablet, the more I like the lack of clutter at the top.

Apart from potentially confusing some users, what are the downsides of going with the hamburger menu for all devices?

http://www.squarespace.com/ and a number of other sites do this already.

Answer 1

The whole point of breaking tasks into seperate menus is that the user can find the task more quickly and in fewer clicks. As well as grouping being predictable making initial discovery quicker, consistent groups/locations are remembered far easier during repetition or subsequent visits.

Designers like the look of the hamburger because it is less cluttered, that doesn't mean that it is more usable. On mobile screen space is at a premium and the trade offs are different, often there are fewer options in total then the standard site.