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How do you properly build a genuinely adaptive navigation structure that automatically switches between a bottom navigation bar on a phone and a genuinely wider navigation rail or a permanent side drawer on a considerably larger tablet or desktop screen?

Intermediate

Answer

A genuinely adaptive navigation structure typically checks the current available screen width and conditionally renders a considerably more compact BottomNavigationBar on a genuinely narrower phone screen, while switching over to Flutter's own dedicated NavigationRail widget, which displays those exact same navigation destinations as a considerably narrower persistent vertical side rail, on a considerably wider tablet or desktop screen, taking genuine full advantage of that additional available horizontal screen space rather than wastefully consuming valuable limited vertical space with a bottom bar that would otherwise genuinely feel considerably less appropriate on a much wider display.
constraints.maxWidth > 600
  ? NavigationRail(destinations: destinations, selectedIndex: currentIndex)
  : BottomNavigationBar(items: bottomNavItems, currentIndex: currentIndex);
Real-world example A productivity app displays a considerably more compact BottomNavigationBar on phones while automatically switching over to a considerably wider persistent NavigationRail on tablets and desktop, genuinely taking full advantage of that additional available horizontal screen space on those considerably larger particular devices.

Common follow-ups: What genuinely other adaptive navigation patterns besides NavigationRail exist specifically for a considerably wider desktop screen?;How do you actually properly preserve a user's own currently selected navigation destination when the app's own overall layout genuinely switches between these two different specific patterns?