Stop the overuse of overflow menus

Overflow menus seem like the perfect solution. Designers can “take away” complexity and leave just the really important bits. You can quickly and easily create a clean looking user interface. The trouble with overflow menus is that you didn’t actually take anything away, you just obnoxiously obfuscated it.
The crux of the issue is that overflow menus let designers, engineers, and product people off the hook from making tough choices. Instead of prioritizing, we just sweep complexity under the rug and pretend that it doesn’t exist. Software with overflow menus is often still hard to use, even if the complexity is now beneath the surface. In fact, because users can’t discern all of the available options, overflow menus frequently make interfaces even more difficult to use.