Separate opening a submenu from visiting its parent

What to change

Ask for distinct, understandable actions where a menu item needs both a destination and an expandable list of child pages.

A worked example

Illustrative example

The Services text opens the service overview, while a labelled expansion control reveals its submenu. Visitors can deliberately choose either outcome.

How to check the result

Accept when opening choices and navigating to the parent are predictable across touch, mouse and keyboard input.

A mistake to avoid

A first-click-opens, second-click-navigates convention is easy to miss and often behaves differently on touch devices.

Your action checklist

Use these checks to prepare a discussion with your team or supplier. Tick a check when you have recorded the decision or evidence, rather than when a feature has simply been promised.

Decisions to recordOn desktop and mobile, activate the parent text and any adjacent expansion control separately. Record whether each action matches its visible purpose.Repeat using a keyboard and screen reader. Ask the supplier to demonstrate the submenu state and the destination link as separate, identifiable controls.Open the submenu, visit a child page and return. Confirm the controls still behave consistently rather than changing meaning after the first activation.

Evidence, open questions and decisionsNext action and responsible role

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