JSTOR Labs, as it happens, is working right now on a phone app for the US Constitution and had the same question as you (for people to expand/collapse articles and sections of the constitution). Last week when we showed this to users, some users said ³yes, self-closing² and others wanted to keep them open. In general, I¹d say they preferred ones that closed as you opened others, and that¹s what we have implemented (at least for now).
Obviously, this is just one example, and I certainly wouldn¹t claim that our user testing was representative, but I hope it¹s helpful nonetheless. Best, Alex -- Alex Humphreys Associate Vice President, JSTOR and Director, JSTOR Labs 2 Rector Street 18th Floor New York, NY 10065 [email protected] @abhumphreys On 12/18/15, 3:01 PM, "Code for Libraries on behalf of Kyle Breneman" <[email protected] on behalf of [email protected]> wrote: >Our library website is currently being redesigned to be responsive. The >work is being done by an outside design firm and the project is being >managed by University Relations, our school's PR department. > >The mobile version of our responsive site has several accordion menus >(similar to attached). I've asked for these accordion menus to be >self-closing; in other words, there is never more than one expansion of an >accordion open at one time - if a user clicks to open another part of the >accordion, the first part simultaneously slides shut. > >I've been told that self-closing accordions are contrary to best >practices: > >"Unfortunately, no, as this isn¹t best practice. Accordions should require >a click each to open and close; in other words, nothing on your page >should >move without a user action. This is true throughout our sites. See the >universal Quick Links in mobile." > >Is it true that self-closing accordion menus run counter to best practices >in mobile web design? The sort of behavior that I'm asking for seems, to >me, intuitive and expected. > >Thanks for your input! > >Kyle Breneman >Integrated Digital Services Librarian >University of Baltimore
