An accordion menu opens a list on the page you are already on. If the words and the mark beside them do different jobs, your customer taps one and gets the other.
On October 23, 2026, Vitaly Friedman returned to the icon on that row. He cites a Nielsen Norman Group study by Page Laubheimer and Raluca Budiu from August 23, 2020. The study is from 2020, not from this week.
What the Phone Test Measured
Laubheimer and Budiu tested 136 people on the phone. The prototypes were static, with the menu already open and the icon to the right of the text. People tapped, then answered whether they expected another page or more links on the same page.
The rows showed a caret, a plus, an arrow pointing right, a drawing made up for the test, or no icon at all. Nothing in the prototype changed after the tap. The result is what people expected that row to do.
What Your Accordion Menu Announces
With no icon, or with the made-up drawing, there was a significant expectation of going to another page. The caret, the plus, and the right arrow did not differ significantly from 50% on that expectation. None of the usual icons has a strong association with staying on the page.
The caret is the safest of the set they tested. It is not a mark every customer will read on sight. The table shows each icon against the made-up drawing and against the row with no icon.
| Icon | Vs. made-up drawing | Vs. no icon |
|---|---|---|
| Caret | Significantly better for staying | Significantly better for staying |
| Plus | Significantly better for staying | Not significantly better |
| Right arrow | No significant difference | No significant difference |
Do Not Split the Row
On the caret, people tapped the icon more than the text. Even so, 29% of the taps fell on the words, which is why the row should not be split. On the other icons, there was no significant preference between the text and the icon.
Picture your menu on a phone in Atlanta. Services has a small arrow to its right: the word goes to a general page, and the arrow opens the list, so the customer misses the service they came for. The words and the arrow have to do the same thing.
Visual hierarchy is the order a stranger’s eye follows on the page. On this row, the question is what the icon announces and what the tap does.
Put the Link Inside the Open Menu
In the October 23, 2026 piece, Friedman recommends a caret pointing down when the list opens in place. If the words are a link, underline them and leave the icon off. If you still need a page for the whole category, put that link inside the open menu.
DHL is his example, not a case from the study. He points to a menu with no split row and an Overview link inside each open section.
One Action on the Row
Open your menu on a phone. Tap the word Services, then tap the arrow. If those two taps do not land in the same place, the row is doing two jobs.
Keep one action on that row. If the list should open there, use a downward caret and put the category page inside the open menu. If the words are the link, underline them and leave the icon off.
That is the row a customer uses to find a service. We do that work on our UX and UI page.
Bring the live menu and the service someone came to find. Fifteen minutes on the calendar is enough to see whether Services and the arrow do the same thing.
